An Australian entrepreneur of Gozitan heritage, Adrian Portelli, is facing nine charges in South Australia over allegedly conducting an unlawful lottery.

The 35-year-old, whose lavish and eye-catching cars have earned him the nickname 'Lambo Guy', hit back at South Australian authorities, claiming his company is "compliant". 

Portelli is a self-made billionaire who runs a successful loyalty programme and operates a property development firm.

In the latest season of the Australian reality TV show focused on real estate, The Block, Portelli bought all the properties, spending a monumental AUS$15.03 million. (€9.12 million)

He also made headlines earlier this year when he bought Melbourne’s most expensive apartment- a double-storey penthouse on La Trobe Street with a price tag of AUS$39 million (€23.2 million) and then adding a swimming pool, bowling alley and even a McLaren supercar to it.

Portelli made much of his fortune through a company that operates a "rewards club" that conducts regular giveaway, giving members the chance to win cars or properties. 

Australian authorities said that is like a "trade promotion lottery", which under South Australian law can only be operated by licenced entities and cannot charge entrants to participate. 

Portelli's company Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, which operates under the name LMCT+, is now facing 10 charges for conducting or assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery.

South Australia’s Consumer and Business Services (CBS) says it documented multiple such incidents occurred between January 29, 2023 and May 16, 2024. 

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

Two other Block properties, one valued at about $2.9m and the other not given a value were offered as prizes, with cash prizes of $2.5m and $2m respectively offered as alternatives. Another property on the Gold Coast valued at $1.3m was also a major prize.

According to reports, Portelli is due to face court on January 15.

"My sales skyrocketed": Portelli on charges

Just hours after the charges were laid, Portelli hosted a massive party at his multimillion-dollar penthouse in Melbourne's CBD and then shared pictures and videos of the party on his socials.

In a video posted to Instagram, he addressed the situation by blaming the media for having reported it. 

“You know what the media does, it’s unfortunate, but you need to respect it in some ways (...) their job is to get clicks, get attention, screen time, whatever (...) and they do it at the cost of people, which unfortunately was me yesterday,” he said.

Despite this, he thanked the media for their coverage as his business sales “skyrocketed” following the articles. 

“I consider myself a pretty nice guy,” he continued. 

He said his business has been operating for over seven years and would not have run for so long if it was not compliant. 

“We have met with governing bodies, we have met with the gaming commissions, they’ve come out to see us and we’ve worked with them,” he explained. 

“They investigated and looked into our stuff and they have all come back with the same finding, that we are compliant.”

Nevertheless, he acknowledged that authorties had revoked his company's licence to operate in South Australia, saying they did so "overnight".  

Portelli believes the move is intended to help competitors who "tried to copy" his business model.