Lottery to come to NSW supermarkets
Posted by Carl Barnett on 10 Mar 2010 at 11:03
Lotto tickets and scratch cards – known as ‘scratchies’ – could be available in the near future in Australian supermarkets.
The Tatts group were the recipients of the lotteries that covered a cost of $850 million.
The New South Wales government are due to complete this sale in April, and this means that the Tatts group will be given the licence that gives them exclusivity to operate a 40 year run of lotteries.
Lotteries in that part of the world currently generate $1.3 billion a year in sales.
The Tatts group will want to expand beyond the current area in which it dominates, newsagents, and analysts expect them to expand the lotteries operations into supermarkets.
Current legislation states this will not happen as soon as Tatts might like though.
Tatts will not be allowed to broaden their distribution of products and services for another five years.
This means that the newsagents that it controls will be selling the lottery tickets and scratch cards.
Lottery analyst Ernie O’Keefe told HeraldSun.com: ‘This sale won’t make one iota of difference to punters in NSW but what may happen over time is that the product will be available in more outlets, most likely supermarket chains.’
This news means that gambling options are becoming more complex, with online poker and online casino games proliferating too.
