William Hill offers new product, Planet Lottery, via Lottoland

Lottoland may cop a bad wrap from some quarters but it may alleviate its negative reputation via a partnership with the popular bookmaker, William Hill.

Known as Planet Lottery, the new product available at the Australian betting site provides Lottoland, which sponsors NRL team Manly Sea Eagles, with a new platform for its unique business model.

Punters can head to the Northern Territory licensed site and “bet on the outcome of real lotteries around the world.”

It follows the same process as betting on Lottoland products where punters pick their numbers – similarly to picking their numbers in an official draw – to bet on the outcome of the draw.

The William Hill website says it “is the acting agent and passes on your lottery bet to Lottoland Australia.”

This means William Hill registered punters will be able to bet on EuroMillions, the US Powerball, Italy’s Super-Enalotto and more without having to create an account with Lottoland.

William Hill corporate development chief, Oliver Scott, said his company was “thrilled to make this innovative and exciting new offering available to our punters.”

Lottoland solutions director, Michael Bogie, said Australia’s lottery market is “fantastic”.

“This is a great example of our group’s commitment to Australia, bringing new choice to punters and sustaining and creating jobs and investment in a market we are all passionate about.”

William Hill has integrated the new betting option into the website but punters can not earn William Hill Rewards Points for bets placed on Planet Lottery markets.

Just as South Australians are excluded from Lottoland products, punters residing in the state are excluded from betting on the lottery options.

When Lottoland first entered the Australian market at the end of 2016, consumers lapped it up due to the ability to enter one of the biggest lotteries in the world at the time. The $2 billion draw in the US was about to go off and Aussies could enter via the newly Australian licensed online lottery giant.

A record 250,000 Australians opened an account within 24 hours of the site offering the US Powerball, but three Americans took out the biggest prize in US history.

The backlash came as the business model was not clearly explained – customers did not understand they were betting on the outcome of the lottery, not buying tickets into the lottery game itself.

This caused a lot of confusion – and a lot of customers going into newsagents to purchase Lottoland tickets. As a result, the lottery giant, which has operations all around the world, began advertising how the site works.

Then came the Australian Lottery and Newsagents Association (ALNA) who complained about Lottoland and claimed it was not regulated properly.

ALNA called for similar restrictions which are enforced in South Australia – it is illegal to bet on lottery outcomes in the state – and requested legislative changes.

During the Senate debate on the Interactive Gambling Amendment Bill 2016, One Nation leader, Pauline Hanson, highlighted the nature of the business and called for secondary amendments to prevent it from operating. While the secondary amendments failed, it may pave the way for future legislation.

In a similar deal, Lottoland’s international brand also teamed up with Europe’s Kindred Group which will see the global lottery options rolled out at Unibet, as well as the operator’s casinos and bingo sites.

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