Internet lottery group Lottoland has prevailed in court, as the Supreme Court of New South Wales has ruled that the group's services are compliant with Australian law.
The company had been forbidden from offering their online lottery ticket sales, as the Australian Communication and Media Authority had ruled that the product was a violation of online betting laws. The issue at hand was an argument that jackpot betting was excluded from being banned. Lottoland claimed their products were excluded as jackpot betting is not "betting on the result of a game".
The court agreed, and wrote in their ruling: "The term bet, can in some circumstances involve the formation of an opinion, on the part of the person betting. However, in the case of the impugned products, the process of selection of the customer number appears somewhat entirely mechanical, i.e. it is pure guesswork. It is difficult to see how any skill could be involved in selecting the numbers.
"There is little to no rational basis, it seems, upon which the customer numbers are selected. Indeed customers may choose to relinquish all control and have their numbers automatically chosen for them. The process, in my view, is devoid of the notion of an expression of opinion. There is no obvious judgement or skill being employed and it is difficult to say the selection could be based on some belief."
The decision will allow Lottoland to continue offering their services in Australia, at least until lawmakers pass new legislation to block the group from operating.
Comments
Yeah I think the court decision make sense and it is the right one so obviously there's no skill involved in guessing the lottery numbers and probably from Lottoland are quite happy with that.