Lotteries deal takes some flak

SYDNEY - The NSW Government is guilty of inflating the overall value of a deal to sell the state lotteries, opposition gaming and racing spokesman George Souris says.

Treasurer Eric Roozendaal yesterday announced the sale of the lotteries to Tatts Group on a 40-year licence, in a deal he says will net the taxpayer A$1.1 billion ($1.4 billion).

A statement announcing the sale says the state-owned NSW Lotteries Corporation will transfer about A$160 million of cash and other assets to the NSW government before the sale's completion.

Tatts Group will pay the NSW government A$850 million cash as consideration for the licence and purchase of NSW Lotteries Corporation.

Taxpayers will also continue to benefit from the continuing payment of duties from the sale of lotteries products, which totalled A$330 million last financial year, Roozendaal says.

But Souris says the A$160 million being transferred by the NSW Lotteries Corporation is already essentially public money.

"They said the sale is worth A$1.1 billion and that's simply not the case, it's worth A$850 million to the taxpayer because the A$160 million is really already in public hands.

"This is spin-doctoring - A$850 million is already good enough. Why spin it even more?"

Souris also accused the government of selling the lotteries to bolster funds ahead of an election.

After initially opposing the lotteries privatisation, the coalition supported the sell-off, on the proviso that lottery agents would receive five years protection against new sellers.

The government had previously offered those agents, namely newsagents, only a guarantee that no one else could sell NSW Lotteries products for three years after the sell-off.

The NSW Greens slammed the privatisation yesterday. "We would have been better off holding on to NSW Lotteries as a source of revenue for future generations, instead of flogging it off," Greens gaming spokeswoman Lee Rhiannon said.

- AAP