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A company owned by Australian billionaire Adrian Portelli is set to face a hefty punishment after it was found guilty of running illegal lotteries in South Australia.
Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, which operates as LMCT+, was found guilty on 10 counts of conducting an unlawful lottery in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.
It was alleged the company did not hold a licence to conduct 10 lotteries in South Australia between January 29, 2023 and May 16, 2024, which resulted in people winning cash, cars and houses, Adelaide Now reports.
Mr Portelli, who is the sole director of Xclusive Tech, was found not guilty on all nine counts of assisting in the conduct of those lotteries after the prosecution alleged he'd assisted in operations by conducting the draws.
The Melbourne-based entrepreneur, best-known to television audiences as The Block's so-called 'Lambo Guy', was not in court for the verdict.
However, on the first day of the trial in September, Mr Portelli told media his company was compliant with every state and territory in Australia but South Australia, after they were 'fed misinformation' from the state.
'We were compliant once upon a time, we had a good relationship with them and someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed,' he said.
'One morning they woke up and said, 'We're not giving you your permits any more', and they took tens of thousands of dollars off us and didn't refund us our money.'
Adrian Portelli, who is the sole director of Xclusive Tech, was found not guilty of assisting the illegal scheme, however his company was found guilty of running it
Mr Portelli's company did not hold a licence to conduct 10 lotteries in South Australia, which resulted in people winning cash, cars and houses
'We've got a bunch of correspondence between both parties, they don't even know what's going on. They've given us wrong information and this is why we kept operating the way we were.'
Mr Portelli's lawyer told Magistrate Melanie Burton that his client had applied unsuccessfully to get the correct licence.
He accused prosecutors of trying to 'take away' the 'life-changing impacts on South Australians' offered by the lotteries, which raffles houses, cars and cash.
It's understood LMCT+ has at least 300,000 subscribers.
Sentencing submissions for Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd will be heard later on Friday.
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