Authorities wanted to take back “life-changing” prizes from trade promotion winners, a lawyer for high-profile businessman Adrian Portelli has told his trial.

The charges, instigated by SA’s Consumer and Business Services, allege Portelli’s business did not hold a licence to conduct 10 separate lotteries between January 29, 2023 and May 16, 2024.

The court yesterday viewed videos in which Portelli staged draws for prizes including homes featured on the TV series The Block, luxury cars and boats and cash prizes. 

In each case, the winners were from South Australia. 

Murugan Thangaraj SC, for Portelli, said he was “taken by surprise” by revised information outlined in the prosecution’s opening address. 

“We understood from the original information that we were dealing with the standard lottery charge,” he said.

“With the revised information, the wording incorporated trade promotion lottery … the prosecution was clearly only about standard lottery and now it says it incorporates both.”

He said a key question was “does the revised information clearly include standard lottery and trade promotion?”

In a “cease and desist” letter sent to the company, Thangaraj said “quite an extraordinary position is put by the commissioner: ‘I request that you contact any South Australians that have won prizes in the promotion to date to advise that the prize is void, as the operation of the lottery was unlawful’.

“So the commissioner is saying that any South Australian winners have to have their prizes returned … because you didn’t have a licence.

“To say that the life-changing impacts on those people, the South Australians, ought to be taken away from them, is the proposition that the commissioner has put.”

Stephanie Wilson, for the liquor and gambling commissioner, said the prosecution accepted Portelli was previously granted trade promotion licences up until a certain point in South Australia but two applications for specific licences were refused by the commissioner in May and June 2021.

“(The prosecution’s) position is that these are unlawful lotteries, whether they are trade promotion lotteries or standard lotteries, and whether previous lotteries were licensed or not licensed, is not to the point,” she said.

Portelli’s company offers members subscriptions to a “rewards club” that includes entries to win cars and properties.

Under South Australian law, any trade promotion lotteries with prizes exceeding $5000 need a licence to operate and entries must be free of charge.

Outside court, Portelli said his company had given back more than $120 million to its customers. 

“There were a lot of companies trying to replicate our business model because they saw the success of it,” he said.

“Some people weren’t doing the right thing and I think it was easier for them (CBS) to just to pull the plug.”

Each of the 19 offences carries a maximum penalty of $10,000.

Portelli has said on social media that if he were convicted, he would “round it up to $200,000”.

Magistrate Melanie Burton has reserved her decision.