‘Lambo guy’ Adrian Portelli pleads not guilty to lottery charges, wants speedy trial

Portelli’s company offers members subscriptions to a “rewards club”, which 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.

“The major prize for the lottery was a property situated in Gisborne in the state of Victoria, as seen on the Australian television show The Block, or a cash prize of $3,000,000,” court documents state.

Winning the prize “involved an element of chance”, but the defendant “did not hold a licence to conduct the lottery in South Australia”.

Portelli and his company face a potential maximum penalty of $190,000.

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

In a social media post in December after the charges were laid, Portelli promoted a membership-based giveaway for South Australians.

“It’s okay SA we still love you. Your gambling commissioner won’t allow you to win major life changing prizes so I’ve decided to run exclusive, DAILY $1000 cash giveaways to you guys instead,” he wrote.

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Melbourne-based Portelli gained fame as “the Lambo Guy” in 2022, after arriving at a house auction for The Block in a yellow Lamborghini.

In last year’s series of the reality show, he spent $15.03 million to acquire all five homes on offer.

AAP