Gunnedah has added more than 1000 signatures to a petition to stop the sale of lottery tickets by supermarkets and petrol stations.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Newsagents across NSW have been angered by a move to open the sale of NSW Lotteries products to big business.
Gunnedah Newsagency owner John Sturgess has said the business would suffer significant losses if the move goes ahead following a moratorium until 2018.
He said lottery tickets were the only product newsagents’ had left that other major outlets could not sell.
“One of the concerns – and it doesn’t affect us at the moment – is while this goes on it is a problem to sell your business.
“I know one agent who has shut his doors and walked away from two agencies.
“I don’t know where newsagents stand with the goodwill they have built up over the years.
“I am fortunate I haven’t put all my eggs in one basket. I have tried to diversify without impinging on anyone else in town.”
He said newsagents already had to compete with Australia Post and big businesses such as Officeworks and would struggle if they lost exclusive rights to lottery products.
Mr Sturgess said at last count, more than 1200 people had signed the petition in Gunnedah.
Member for Tamworth Kevin Anderson said yesterday he would lodge the petition – which had amassed 125,000 signatures – at Parliament on behalf of the Newsagents Association of NSW and the ACT.
“Newsagents across the state are facing a challenge with Tatts Group and the sale of lottery tickets in their agencies with the threat of NSW Lotteries being permitted to migrate to big businesses such as Coles and Woolworths,” Mr Anderson said.
Newsagents Association of NSW and ACT treasurer and Tamworth Newsagency owner Sharon Maloney said the agency protection period expired on April 1 this year.
“Prior to that date, a memorandum of understanding [MOU] was signed by the NSW government and Tatts which provided a limited extension of the original five-year moratorium to 2018,” Ms Maloney said.
“Essentially, the MOU has now permitted the introduction of NSW Lotteries product into supermarkets and their petrol outlets.”
Mr Anderson said he looked forward to presenting the petition.
“I am a strong advocate of small businesses like newsagents and know the difference they make to our towns through employment and economic contribution,” he said.
“I am pleased to be part of a government which has worked side-by-side with newsagencies to work through these challenges, and I look forward to presenting their petition on the floor of the Parliament.”
Mr Sturgess said he would watch with interest to see the result of the petition.
“We appreciate what Kevin and the Nationals did for us during the campaign,” he said.
“But I have yet to be convinced it is going to make any difference.
“It’s just a waiting game. We will wait and see what happens.”