The US MegaMillions jackpot has reached $900 million (AU$2.25 billion). Aussies have a chance to win big money if they bet through Lottoland, which allows Australians to wager on the outcome of international lotteries.
So far, Lottoland has reported that over 20 000 Aussies have made a bet. In the previous draw, about 280 million tickets were sold, and there was no winner who was able to predict the numbers correctly. The draw will take place 24 October, Wednesday, 2 pm AEDT. Overall, 60 000 Aussies have approached various synthetic lottery providers to bet on the outcome.
Ban of Synthetic Lotteries
The Federal Government has passed a law that bans synthetic lotteries, and this will take effect as of January 2019. The ban came after the Labour party and government raised concerns about the synthetic lotteries. Their concern was that they were taking a share of the traditional lotteries and their revenue.
However, this decision was not accepted by all newsagents. They said that Lottoland would affect the competition should it stop operations in Australia. Lottoland has an operating license from the Northern Territory and launched in Australia in 2016.
TheLotter is another company that is offering Australian lottery betting services. However, they believe that their working model is different. That is because instead of betting on the outcome of the lotto, they buy tickets for their customers. They cater to several countries outside the US including Australia. If an Australian player’s ticket wins the jackpot, they will be flown to America to claim their winnings.
According to Mr Luke Brill of Lottoland, this is not legal in Australia because the law in most states say a company cannot resell international lotto tickets. What’s more, they are not locally licensed in Australia.
As of next year, it will be illegal for Australian to take part in synthetic lotteries; hence the jump on the trend as soon as there is a big jackpot up for grabs.
