Operator News
Australia – Lottoland Australia wants to work with newsagents, not against them
By Phil - 19 October 2017
Lottoland Australia has proposed a world-first partnership model with newsagents, offering a cut of online punts so they can benefit from the company’s 600,000 customer base clocked up just 18 months after it opened its doors.
For newsagents that opt in to the proposed model, should they be nominated by one of their customers, they will take a 10 per cent cut of every bet that customer goes on to make with Lottoland.
When registering with Lottoland, punters will be asked to select their local newsagent. The chosen newsagent will then receive 10 per cent of all future online bets made by that punter. For all existing 600,000 customers, they will also have the opportunity to nominate their newsagent of choice.
In return for their cut, newsagents will be asked to advertise Lottoland in store via promotional materials, such as posters and flags. Advertising in-store will be limited to international lotteries, a market currently inaccessible for newsagents. No newsagent will be asked to promote a lottery that they sell tickets for in-store.
Luke Brill, Lottoland CEO, acknowledged newsagents are an important part of Australian communities and they too should benefit from the shift to online betting.
“Lottoland has listened to Australian newsagents and this model is recognition that we need to work together. Newsagents will always have a longstanding cultural link to lotteries, but as it stands there is no infrastructure for them to take advantage of overseas lotteries and online betting. This needs to change. ”
“Every bet on an overseas lottery is incremental revenue, part of which can now flow fairly to newsagents. This model complements in-store lottery purchases and opens a channel for these businesses to benefit from the emerging pool of ‘online only’ punters.”
“The shift to online betting is a reality. While companies like Tatts are busy using newsagents as pawns in a campaign to maintain their monopoly, we are proposing a model that puts cash back into small businesses.”
Last week, Lottoland called on all states and territories to introduce a point of consumption tax so the company could contribute nation-wide.
“We must be the only business in Australia asking governments to tax us but we’re doing this so we can help fund much needed community projects. We’re willing to pay, we just need the tax infrastructure that makes this possible.”
“Meetings with all levels of government have been promising and have helped Lottoland overcome the misinformation spread by Tatts’ $5 million dollar smear campaign.”
Mr Brill said he met with Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association Chief Executive Adam Joy on Monday to float the deal, and looked forward to working closely with newsagents to hear their feedback and get the model up and running.
