Lottery betting operator Lottoland is hoping to salvage its Australian operations by claiming its chief down under antagonist lied to the federal government.

On Tuesday, Lottoland Australia CEO Luke Brill called on the Australian government to review its proposed legislation banning online lottery betting, citing evidence that the group representing lottery newsagents “misled the public about its membership numbers.”

Late last year, the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA) teamed with local lottery operator Tatts Group in a campaign designed to prohibit Lottoland from offering betting markets on lottery outcomes. Lottoland submitted to its state regulator’s demands to halt wagering on domestic lotteries, but the federal government introduced legislation last month that would also ban betting on international lottery draws.

On Tuesday, Lottoland’s Brill claimed that documents obtained from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission reveal that the ALNA’s parent company was “facing financial ruin” and had misled the government into thinking the ALNA “represented the views of 4,000 newsagents nationally,” when the group “has in fact only 707 paid members – about 80% less than claimed.”