A five-year moratorium on lottery sales at the big stores expires on March 31, and there are no guarantees yet that Woolworths and Coles will be kept out of the market.

The moratorium, introduced by Labor in 2010 when it sold off the lotteries, has allowed newsagents and convenience stores to maintain exclusive rights to lottery sales, however with no certain future, smaller newsagents are fearing the worst.

Gunnedah Newsagencies is among those worried, saying that if the freeze is not extended, it will have a “significant impact”.

Lottery sales, which also attracts added store traffic, accounts for 30 per cent of the Conadilly Street business’ revenue turnover.

“I’ll lose tens of thousands of dollars and that’s an unquantifiable amount at this stage,” owner John Sturgess said.

“It depends how many supermarkets they put it into and how many people are prepared to come to my shop and buy lotto. It also depends on what sale items the supermarkets are prepared to take on like magazines.

“I would envisage, if it happens, I’ll probably have to shed at least one staff member.”

John and his wife Ann have a petition at the newsagency with thousands of signatures already collected. 

The owners have received a letter informing its exclusivity contracts with NSW Lotteries will come to an end, and has been sent a contract from the Tatts Group - which operates the lotteries – to look at. 

NSW Labor has already pledged that, if elected in March, it will continue a moratorium on the sale of lottery tickets at big stores.

The move has been welcomed by the Newsagents’ Association of NSW and the ACT, which is now calling on the state government to provide some certainty.

“We say please review this proposal with the livelihoods of the 1500 small businesses that are lottery agents, in mind,” the association said. 

Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson, however, has come out swinging at Labor saying it should have fixed the problem five years ago and labelled its election promise as “hypocrisy at the highest order”.

He said the government was currently in negotiations with Tatts and agreed Woolies and Coles should be kept out.

“They have a role to play in the community, but they ultimately end up strangling the competition and small mums and dads businesses are forced to fall by the wayside,” Mr Anderson said.

Mr Sturgess believes the state government should continue to allow lottery sales for small business only. 

“I’m not saying newsagents should have the sole right to sell lottery products in this day and age, but I’d certainly like to see it remain with small business.”

He said he believed the wider impact of losing lottery sales had not been fully realised – particularly when it came to smaller sale items and magazines which the big supermarkets were not prepared to stock. 

“Those magazines will gradually decline and with it they will make my business less viable,” he said.

He also added that there was a community wellbeing issue at stake.

“We keep an eye on our customers so if there is a gambling problem we can point them in the right direction,” Mr Sturgess said.

“That won’t happen with the supermarkets - they’ll be there to sell every dollar they can. 

“We’re not here to make a quick buck, we’re here to make an honest living and look after the community.”