Intralot scratches 44 staff

As it tries to make inroads into the Victorian gaming market, Greek-owned Intralot, which provides scratchie lotteries, said it was laying off 44 out of 104 staff at its Port Melbourne operation, including 26 full-time and 18 part-time staff.

It partly blamed the deal under which the Government allowed rival Tattersall's to lock up exclusive sales areas in agents' shops. Intralot is on the verge of launching Federal Court action to accuse Tattersall's of misusing its market power.

But Government spokeswoman Rebecca Harrison said she was disappointed with Intralot's announcement of job losses at a time of economic uncertainty. "We have previously indicated our expectation and the reasonable expectations of retailers and the broader community that Intralot will do more to achieve the sales targets it set at the time of its entry into the Victorian lottery market," she said.

Intralot chief executive Leo Watling conceded Intralot's poor financial performance had been caused partly by its own early mistakes.

"We do acknowledge that in the company's first 12 months of operation we encountered telecommunications issues with our retailers, less-than-expected acceptance of our games and an introductory marketing campaign that did not appeal to consumers.

"However, there is industry recognition that sales of Intralot products have been significantly impacted by the Tattersall's 'dedicated areas' in newsagents, which forms part of the licence agreement between Tatts and the State Government. The dedicated area . . . is invariably the most prominent, convenient and effective areas of a newsagency."

He said Intralot was made aware of the existence of that arrangement only after it was awarded its licence.

Mr Watling said the company's performance had improved in recent months but not enough to save the 44 staff.

All staff would receive their full entitlements and representatives would continue to make regular visits to the company's all-important sales agents.

Intralot's financial results are not available but a leaked set of figures from earlier this year show the company was expecting to make just $67 million in revenue far short of the $293 million originally forecast.