EXCLUSIVE
Furniture giant Temple & Webster has dropped Adrian Portelli’s firm as a partner, just days after The Block billionaire was accused of running illegal lotteries.
The retailer quietly disappeared from the list of partners on the website of Portelli’s LMCT+ subscription-based lottery and rewards club on Monday.
Temple & Webster, one of Australia’s largest online retailers of homewares, had until this week offered discounts to members of LMCT+, but after queries from Daily Mail Australia confirmed the company is no longer working with Portelli’s firm.
Daily Mail Australia exclusively revealed on Thursday that Portelli, 35, and LMCT+ face a total of 19 charges from the South Australian consumer watchdog.
The state’s Consumer and Business Services office launched an investigation into the Melbourne businessman’s activities in September last year.
The ministry filed charges against Portelli and Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, trading as LMCT+, on November 27.
The charges relate to alleged unlawful lotteries held in South Australia between January 29, 2023 and May 16, 2024.
Portelli’s company offers monthly drawings for cash, cars and houses
Portelli broke his silence on the allegations Thursday evening
Court documents reveal that prizes in the alleged lotteries included cars, three Victorian properties as seen on The Block (one of which was worth approximately $2.9 million) and cash prizes of up to $3 million.
Portelli faces nine counts of conducting/aiding the operation of an unlawful lottery, and the company faces 10 counts of the same charge.
If convicted on all charges, Portelli could face a maximum fine of $190,000. The case is scheduled to be first mentioned in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on January 15.
Less than a week after the charges were laid, Portelli made headlines for giving away $150,000 worth of Coles vouchers to 1,000 Sydneysiders – many of whom waited in line for hours in the 33 degree Celsius heat.
And just hours after Daily Mail Australia revealed the prosecution, he held a lavish party at his multi-million dollar penthouse in Melbourne’s CBD on Thursday evening.
No expense was spared at the party, which featured go-go dancers and famed Australian DJ Havana Brown.
A late-night clip showed Portelli doing a ‘shoey’, where he drank from a shoe.
The next morning he also boasted that his companies had seen a huge increase in sales following revelations about the prosecution against him.
Just hours after Daily Mail Australia revealed the prosecution, he held a lavish party at his multimillion-dollar penthouse
“Sales peaked last night from 6pm across all businesses,” he wrote on social media.
He also dismissed the South Australian authorities as ‘cowboys’ and offered to ‘take them head-to-head’.
“It’s a maximum fine of $190,000. I’ll round it up to $200,000,” he said.
Portelli has an estimated net worth of over $1 billion, and he made much of his fortune through LMCT+.
It has more than 300,000 customers who pay subscription fees, with options ranging from $20 to $100 per month.
Subscribers get discounts from partners like Amazon and Elite Supplements – although the website only releases the details to people who sign up.
The main attraction is the company’s monthly lottery drawings for cash, cars and houses. In the last drawing, on November 24, $1 million went to one subscriber.
The more a subscriber pays, the more ‘accumulating entries’ they get in each drawing.
No expense was spared at the penthouse party, which featured go-go dancers and famed Australian DJ Havana Brown
Tim Costello, chief counsel for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, told Daily Mail Australia he believed LMCT+ was a gambling company.
“What is essentially a gambling product that exploits a loophole is deplorable, and I think the loophole needs to be closed,” Costello said.
“The thing that has always characterized gambling in Australia is that it comes from the poorest postcodes and enriches those who are already extremely wealthy.
‘It is a transfer from the poorest to the richest, chasing hope and fear, and poverty.
“Australia has the highest gambling losses in the world because we have the most lax policies in the world, and this is an example of that.”
Portelli’s net worth is estimated by the Australian Financial Review to be over $1 billion, taking into account his collection of properties and luxury cars as well as the paper value of LMCT+.
The entrepreneur was seventh on the Financial Review Young Rich List this year.