Melbourne billionaire Adrian Portelli’s company has been hit with a $40,000 fine after a magistrate ruled it conducted a series of illegal lotteries in South Australia. On Friday, Magistrate Melanie Burton found Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd — which operates as the rewards club LMCT+ — guilty of 10 counts of conducting an unlawful lottery.
However, in a significant win for the high-profile businessman, Mr Portelli was found not guilty of nine counts of assisting in the conduct of those lotteries. Mr Portelli, the sole director of the company, was not present in court for the verdict.
The charges followed an investigation into 10 separate draws held between January 2023 and May 2024.
Prosecutors argued that Xclusive Tech did not hold the necessary licences to operate in South Australia during this period.
While the defence argued the business provided “life-changing prizes,” Magistrate Burton insisted the law must be followed, per the Adelaide Advertiser.
“This company was not a charity, it’s a commercial enterprise, and there must be consequences for running a lottery without the oversight that’s set up by the South Australian legislation,” Magistrate Burton said.
Speaking outside the court during the trial in September, Mr Portelli claimed to media the business was “compliant with every state in Australia but South Australia.” He blamed a breakdown in the relationship with local regulators for the legal battle.
“We were compliant once upon a time, we had a good relationship with them and someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” Mr Portelli said.
“One morning they woke up and just said, ‘we’re not giving you your permits any more’ and they took tens of thousands of dollars off us and they didn’t refund us our money.”
He further alleged that the company continued to operate because it had been provided with “wrong information” by authorities.
“We’ve got a bunch of correspondence between both parties, they don’t even know what’s going on. They’ve given us wrong information and this is why we kept operating the way we were. Because we were fed misinformation from their end and I’ve got proof of that,” he said.
In court, his lawyer argued the lotteries were in no way unfair or dishonest.
The company now intends to work with the Commissioner to ensure South Australians can participate in future draws legally.
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