Lottery Rejig Has Left 'no Winners'

The Age

Thursday July 31, 2008

Kate Lahey, City Reporter

INTRALOT'S entry into the Victorian lottery market has been branded a disaster, with retailers claiming they are losing money through faulty technology and machines that give instructions in Greek.

About 500 businesses in Victoria are losing 15% or more of their lottery income and are unlikely to recover it, according to the Lottery Agents Association of Victoria. Chief executive Peter Judkins said the State Government should never have split the lottery licence between Tattersall's and Intralot and must take responsibility for the situation. "It's just a disaster," he said.

"Intralot have been operating now for a month and we're extremely disappointed in the quality of the hardware and in the software processes.

"At the moment, Intralot cannot be happy because they are massively adrift of their own projected sales for all of their products at this stage, the Government is significantly down on lottery duty, agents are losing money hand over fist and the customers are being hugely disadvantaged. There are no winners in this at the moment."

Mr Judkins said his organisation estimated the Government was now losing about $900,000 in lottery tax revenue a week.

Intralot did not respond to repeated requests for comment for this story.

Daylesford newsagent Les Faulkhead is preparing to challenge Intralot in the small claims tribunal after deciding to abandon his arrangement with them. He said he paid Intralot $9350 and received nothing but trouble in return. "The ticket checker for people to check their tickets was in Greek," he said.

Mr Faulkhead said he was connected to Intralot three days late, then the equipment failed, coupons did not arrive, the barcode scanner used to read instant scratch tickets did not work properly and Intralot's customer service lines were jammed.

"I've sent my machine back, I can't get my refund and they want to charge me a $1500 fee for breaking the contract plus $300 for picking up the equipment."

Gaming Minister Tony Robinson conceded Intralot's first month could have been better.

Intralot entered the market on July 1, under a new licence regime that ended the five-decade Tattersall's monopoly. It runs instant scratch tickets and Keno, while Tatts has retained Saturday Lotto, Powerball and Oz Lotto.

Opposition gaming spokesman Michael O'Brien said the Government had mishandled the process and needed to intervene.

Mr Robinson gave the Lottery Agents Association $20,000 in May. His spokeswoman said the money was to help the group through the transition phase.

© 2008 The Age

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