Discount fuel and cash giveaways: How Adrian Portelli’s business works

Businessman Adrian Portelli was back in the news on Thursday after opening his new venture, selling fuel for $1 a litre at a petrol station in Preston.

Also back in the news: questions about how the entrepreneur’s LMCT+ membership-based shopping discount and giveaway business actually works, and whether it is an unlicensed lottery, as critics and a South Australian regulator assert.

On Thursday, the Preston petrol station was not ensnarled in the kind of traffic chaos that was seen at an earlier unrelated fuel giveaway in Truganina, organised by RS Rewards on Good Friday, which was shut down by police.

But the cheap fuel is only available to members of LCMT+, who pay a monthly subscription fee to access hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of discounts, as well as cash and prize giveaways.

The new fuel membership will cost $99.99 a year, which gives members access to petrol at the wholesale price, Portelli told this masthead, adding that he launched the business after petrol companies declined to join his scheme.

The Preston petrol station venture was not making money, he said.

“We are not depending on this venture to turn a profit, it is a soft launch to test our [petrol station] employees,” he said.

Over time, the number of petrol sites will expand. “We can’t lose money; otherwise, we will run out of money. ”

LMCT+ is billed as a subscription platform that offers discounts to more than 2000 businesses. These include Ultratune, Elite Supplements, Rip Curl, home appliance shop Betta, Adore Beauty Interior Secrets and Frank & Beans Underwear. The business makes its money from subscriptions, as well as ticket sales for individual giveaways.

Until recently, there were three tiers of LMCT+ memberships. An entry-level membership, which goes for $19.99 a month, allows members to claim up to $50,000 in savings from affiliate businesses each year. With a premium membership ($49.99 a month), the annual savings cap increases to $150,000, and for the elite membership ($99.99 a month), it’s up to $250,000. The fuel membership, which costs $99.99 annually, will be available soon.

Memberships also include a limited number of entries into LMCT’s famed giveaways, which became popularised thanks to Portelli’s appearances and purchases on The Block.

On Thursday on ABC Radio, during an expletive-laden interview, Portelli denied he was cashing in on the fuel crisis or that his business was a gambling operation.

“How is that gambling? We are using a trade promotion to promote the app,” Portelli, whose wealth has been estimated at $1.6 billion, told ABC Radio Melbourne.

Later that day he told this masthead: “When someone is choosing not to understand … That is the response you are going to get from me.”

LMCT+, which stands for Licensed Motor Car Trader Plus, was founded by Portelli in 2018. The businessman became famous for buying up properties on home renovation program The Block, broadcast on Channel Nine (Nine owns this masthead), and offering them as giveaways on LMCT+. The program dubbed him “Lambo Guy” after a fondness for Lamborghini cars.

Winner Brad (who requested a pseudonym as he didn’t want to be identified) received a winning call from Portelli telling him he had won either a house featured on The Block or $2.5 million.

Brad, a business manager, was never an LMCT+ member but spent about $1200 over the previous year buying tickets for specific draws, also entitling him to shopping discounts, which he never used.

“If the person who won is not a member, they [members] tend to crack the shits,” said Brad, who added that he had missed watching the live draw on Facebook.

“I was going to watch it and got into a conservation with my wife about something and my phone started ringing. I then jumped online and saw my name.

“I didn’t believe it. In that moment, you are in shock.”

Portelli called personally to announce the prize but at first “played coy” at the start by telling him he hadn’t won the lesser prizes before revealing he had the choice of $2.5 million or a house.

Brad, who met Portelli by chance after his win, said he felt the businessman was the victim of the tall poppy syndrome. “You see the genuine excitement he gets; that’s what I take away from it.

“But I am going to have a different opinion to someone who hasn’t won,” he added, declining to reveal which prize he accepted.

In South Australia, LMCT+ and Portelli are appealing against a ruling that found parent company Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd was guilty of conducting unlawful lotteries and fined it $40,000. Portelli was acquitted on personal charges and has threatened defamation action against the former South Australian gambling minister over her comments.

“We run a legitimate business,” Portelli said.

LMCT+ is running what it dubs the “the biggest giveaway in Australian television history” alongside Channel Seven and its new program My Reno Rules, after Portelli bought two homes in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen that he intends to give away to the public on June 2.

The site has a live countdown to the giveaway draw, and any Australian resident over 18 can buy individual tickets to the prize draw, without subscribing. In the My Reno Rules giveaway, which promises winners the choice between one of the two houses or $2 million in cash, tickets go for as little as $10 for three entries, all the way up to $500 (1500 entries).

The business says it is “fully licensed under Trade Promotion Lottery laws”, but gambling reform advocates are critical, saying the business operates through legal loopholes.

Tim Costello, chief advocate for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, is a critic of Portelli and the gambling regulation system.

“I think he has driven his Lamborghini through the loophole in gambling regulation,” Costello said.

Costello said Australia operated in a “Swiss cheese patchwork of regulation” and national regulation was needed. He was also critical of the cheap petrol initiative.

“This is very clever. He will be seen by the public as the people’s hero. This is why he is a billionaire.”

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a crackdown on “harmful and emerging online lottery products”, but did not name any specific businesses.

“What is everywhere is innovative gambling,” Costello said.

“You have prediction markets where you can bet on the Strait of Hormuz opening or closing.

“There are so many offshore companies that are beyond any regulation. The online betting market is growing at 50 per cent a year.”

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