Gaming watchdog forces lottery mum to repay ticketholders $55
A Queensland mother’s bold plan to auction her house, land, cash and business to raise over $1.5 million has come unstuck as authorities get involved.
Crime & Justice
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A QUEENSLAND mother who put her house, land, cash and business — purportedly worth $1.5 million — up for lottery has been forced to refund all Queensland ticket buyers after authorities took her to court to shut down the illegal game.
Natalie Giumelli, 31, a pet resort owner from Woodstock south of Townsville, refused to reveal exactly how many tickets she would be refunding, but conceded the number was significant, and her lawyer earlier claimed to authorities in court documents that the competition would fail if she was forced to refund Queenslanders.
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“Our client’s primary source of consumers, and therefore entrants, is Queensland, meaning that if it complies with this direction (to refund) the promotion will not be able to be continued or completed,” lawyer Matt Hansen told the state’s gaming watchdog on June 7.
But today Ms Giumelli’s website said the lottery draw was continuing, and told The Courier-Mail outside court she was “busy refunding a significant number of entrants in Queensland” the $55 ticket price.
She must refund all Queensland ticketholders by October 11, and tell authorities who got refunds by October 25, according to a consent order made by Supreme Court justice James Douglas last Friday.
She is also banned from selling tickets to Queenslanders, a ban has been in place since August 20.
The lottery was the first of its kind in Queensland.
Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation investigator Janet Lea Brock told the court in her affidavit the lottery was not a legal promotional game or trade promotion because Ms Giumelli was aiming to sell her business for a profit.
Ms Brock said in her affidavit she called Ms Giumelli on April 16 to tell her she was concerned the lottery may be illegal.
A month later she again called and told her that the “trade promotion was not lawful” under the state’s Charitable and Non Profit Gaming Act because her lottery appeared to be for “personal gain”.
On June 4 Ms Brock formally directed Ms Giumelli to stop the lottery in Queensland and reveal how many entries have been sold, and how many to Queenslanders.
Ms Brock earlier questioned a controversial condition of the draw — which has drawn nationwide media coverage — that the winner would not win the $1.5 million prize if fewer than 40,000 tickets were sold.
Instead, the winner would receive cash to the value of half of all tickets sold. If 39,000 tickets were sold, they would receive $1 million, and not the pet resort.
“Where is the other 50 per cent of the sales going? What will this money be used for,” Ms Brock asked Ms Giumelli in emails tendered in court.
Ms Giumelli’s lawyer replied half of sales would go to running costs of the dog kennels.
Ms Brock also questioned the value of the kennels given that Ms Giumelli unsuccessfully listed it for sale in 2015 for an asking price of $1.4 million.
The draw had originally been set for June 21, but was pushed back to September 24.
“We honestly believed that we had conducted our due diligence and made all the inquires needed,” Ms Giumelli told The Courier-Mail outside court.
But this was at odds with what Mr Hansen earlier told gaming authorities, that no Queensland-specific inquiries were made before they launched what they called a promotional game.
Mr Hansen told the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation that Ms Giumelli had been inspired by The Block’s Monopoly promotion — conducted by Channel 9 to award an apartment from the TV show — and a Victorian couple who offered their cafe for lottery.
“Our clients were not aware of any prohibitions in Queensland against awarding property or a business as a prize,” Mr Hansen said court documents.
Mr Hansen told the OLGR that the promotion was permitted in ACT and NSW.
“Our client maintains that they have at all times acted lawfully,” Mr Hansen told the OLGR in an email in May.
The resort has 13 cattery apartments and one “suite”, as well as 24 airconditioned cabins for dogs.
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