Intra-losses. Casey lotto agents are feeling the pinch as customers steer clear of new Intralot gamesBy Glen Atwell
LOTTERY agents in the City of Casey are ruing a decision to fork out $10,000 in licensing fees to sell Intralot tickets.
Agents in Cranbourne and Hampton Park told the News that first-month Intralot sales were woeful.
“July was terrible,” said Etta, manager of the Cranbourne Park Tattslotto Agency.
“The Intralot equipment is very slow, and our customers don’t like waiting for tickets to be processed.”
Etta also said general confusion of the rules of Intralot’s three lotto games – Lucky Lines, Lucky Bingo Star and Lucky Keno 70 – was hampering interest.
“Some people don’t understand the rules and what you need to win, so they decide to stick with Powerball and other games they know,” she said.
Another disgruntled local agent, who did not wish to be named, said Intralot had been trouble from the start.
“Our Intralot sales have been terrible,” he said.
“Everything except the LuckyTix scratchies has been disappointing. But scratchies are traditionally add-on sales. I did not expect them to be the bulk of our Intralot sales.”
The agent said previous Tatts Keno draws had a guaranteed jackpot of $1 million. “With Intralot, there might be 10 numbers less (70 instead of 80), but the minimum jackpot has been reduced to $100,000. It’s not enough to entice players,” he said.
“I spent $10,000 to get the Intralot system, my overheads are higher, and I can’t sell a ticket.”
“I can only hope things get better with time,” he said.
Some 700 outlets each paid $10,000 to sell Intralot tickets when the games launched on 1 July.
According to Intralot’s website, the biggest single prize won since the launch has been $26,900.
