Lottoland has been in a lot’o trouble the past couple of years. The Gibraltar-based international betting platform has been the target of two separate lawsuits in Australia this year related to how it markets its products, and even faced scrutiny by the country’s Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for allegations that it was gaming the system. However, it has been able to successfully defend itself each time, with the latest win coming by way of a decision to toss a complaint over AUD$238 million ($173.57 million) in alleged unpaid winnings. The court decided that the plaintiff should have done a better job reading the fine print. 

Lottoland’s major claim to fame is the use of international lottery numbers to develop a random lottery draw. It uses options such as the Powerball in the U.S. for its activity, but doesn’t allow players to make purchases of tickets for those specific lotteries – it’s all done after the fact. However, one individual missed that point and purchased a ticket for what she thought was the actual Powerball, not the THU Jackpot contest offered by Lottoland. When she was rejected of her claim of having won the massive prize of AUD$126 million ($91.91 million), she turned around and sued the operator, forcing the issue to go to court while arguing that the operator was deceiving the public. 

Australia’s Northern Territory Racing Commission (NTRC) then received a separate complaint by another individual, who essentially presented the same argument. He felt he had been cheated out of the $173.57 million prize due to shady marketing tactics by Lottoland and that he had been under the impression that he was purchasing an actual Powerball ticket, not the “U.S. Power” lottery ticket he actual purchased. 

The commission intently listened to both sides of the latest case before it drew its conclusion. Lottoland showed how it hadn’t used the word “Powerball” in any of its activity since 2016, well before the individuals had participated. When the hearing turned to the subject of using deceptive marketing tactics, Lottoland defended itself by pointing out that, in both instances, the Powerball lottery results had already been announced before the two complainants had bought their tickets. 

There will never be a shortage of people who, for any number of reasons, spread false news and the ease with which stories can be propagated thanks to the Internet has only attracted even more. In many cases, the initial author of the piece didn’t both to do his or her homework, and it only takes a little push from there for the erroneous information to hit all the channels in just a matter of minutes. Lately, there has been talk about an online lottery coming to Macau, the Macau Mark Six lottery, but the news appears to have bypassed any attempt, if there were any, to verify its validity. According to Macau’s gambling regulator, the Macau Mark Six is simply balderdash. 

The Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau (DICJ, for its Portuguese acronym) was forced to issue a clarification last Friday after rumors started circulating last week that it was considering launching the Mark Six online lottery as a means to recuperate some of the millions of dollars lost because of COVID-19’s impact on the gambling industry. It reiterated the fact that Macau is not a fan of online gambling, at least for now, because of perceived risks and the lack of any solid regulations to govern the segment. Macau and the DICJ are currently working on a number of issues, and introducing regulations for new gambling activity is not a priority.

The DICJ explained in a statement on its website, “Any online casinos that operate on behalf of Macau, or any websites that claim to be exploiting the ‘Macau Mark Six’ game, are false and illegal. The Macau SAR Government has never authorized the exploitation of online games by any casino or concessionaire in Macau, and the Judiciary Police is investigating the matter.”

Hong Kong has a Mark Six lottery, provided and managed by the Hong Kong Jockey Club. It probably wouldn’t be a terrible idea for Macau to consider the option sometime in the near future, as Hong Kong’s version saw turnover of $658 million for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The figure would have been higher if it hadn’t been for the coronavirus, and the turnover was down 39% compared to a year earlier. Still, it is apparently a solid win with consumers.