On June 26th, 2008, Tattersall's fifty-year monopoly on operating the lottery in Victoria will stop in days amid concerns regarding gaming company Intralot adding on the available gaming products. Newagents and other lottery agents in the state will allocate more area for the brand new gaming operator and agents are preparing a big marketing campaign to launch the new gambling products.
Intralot will sell scratchies, keno and other games in shops all over the country and will debut two new games next year. Interchurch Gaming Taskforce spokesperson Mark Zirnsak commented that Intralot's presence in the area would just mean more gaming products. Dr. Zirnsak commented that Intralot has made an announcement that they do not want to compete directly with Tattersall's and will instead expand and conquer a new market, so that would mean a lot of new customers, which would mean a new group that could potentially become addicted to gambling.
John Katakis, Intralot's managing director in Australia denied that allegation that they would just be the cause of gambling addiction in the area. Katakis added that they have signed agreements with a total of six hundred and sixty lottery shops and hope to have signed agreements with 1,000 shops by Christmas time.
The Chief Executive of the Lottery Agent's Association of Victoria, Peter Judkins commented that not all agents of Tattersall's had agreed to sell the products of Intralot. He said that the reason why is that the fees of Intralot are too expensive. Tattersall's have denied the charge that they are trying to block the sale of Intralot's products. Michael Mangos from Tatts said that any lottery agent are free to sale the products that they want.
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John Sullivan
