Adrian Portelli is facing nine charges in South Australia of assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery.
His company, Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, which operates under the name LMCT+, is facing 10 charges for conducting or assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery.
Portelli bought all the properties in the latest season of The Block.
His company offers members subscriptions to a “rewards club”. They also then get entries to win cars and properties.
The model is known as a trade promotion lottery. Under South Australian law, any trade promotion lotteries with prizes exceeding $5,000 need a licence to operate and entries must be free of charge.
Participants may have to purchase goods or services to enter, but they cannot charge more than the normal price for those goods or services.
Both Victorian and New South Wales regulators investigated LMCT+ and found no legal violations.
South Australia’s Consumer and Business Services (CBS) had investigated, and was now taking Portelli and his company to court. According to court documents, the incidents occurred between 29 January 2023 and 16 May 2024.
The charges against Xclusive Tech (trading as LMCT+) included conducting/assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery through a subscription that gave entries to a lottery.
“The major prize for the lottery was a property situated in Gisborne in the state of Victoria as seen on the Australian television show The Block, or a cash prize of $3,000,000,” court documents said. Giving away the prize “involved an element of chance” but the defendant “did not hold a licence to conduct the lottery in South Australia”.
Two other Block properties, one valued at about $2.9m and the other not given a value were offered as prizes, with cash prizes of $2.5m and $2m respectively offered as alternatives. Another property on the Gold Coast valued at $1.3m was also a major prize.
Other prizes mentioned included a “Devil Yellow HSV VZ” car, a “Toyota LandCruiser 79 series” car with a “barcrusher 670c” valued at $228,000, other cars, and cash prizes of $250,000 and $500,000.
The charges against Portelli were for assisting in the conduct of a unlawful lotteries.
Each charge for conducting, or assisting in conducting an unlawful lottery carries a maximum penalty of $10,000.
The hearing is listed for the Adelaide magistrates court on 15 January 2025.
Guardian Australia has contacted Portelli and LMCT+ for comment.
