Gaming & Wagering Latest News & Analysis The Australian Financial Review
2026.04.17
Using another failing industry as a justification for not adequately protecting Australians from gambling harm is a cop out, an opportunity fluffed.
Red wines are changing – lighter, brighter and a little slinky
His team had bought more than 25 million tickets, which now filled the cardboard boxes stacked high against the hotel room wall. In a crowded hotel room not far from Austin, Bernard Marantelli and his team watched a live-stream of the Texas lottery draw. Bernard Marantelli has for the past few decades outsmarted many in the wagering industry, including US authorities after he won a $95 million lottery jackpot. The ASX-listed wagering group will upgrade online pokies australia real money its betting terminals and broadcast displays across the Laundy Hotels portfolio, but lock its rival out. Virtual Gaming Worlds was one of the early beneficiaries of a US legislative loophole in states where gambling is otherwise banned. The British bookmaker behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly allowed more than a dozen high-risk customers to funnel money through its accounts despite the risks.
The Star case is a warning for boards and a setback for the regulator
Brier says Repcenko asked him for some help organising a bulk ticket purchase in Indiana. Brier was suing Texas-based courier Lottery.com for allegedly failing to pay $US15 million in a business acquisition. “He seemed charming, you know, looked clean cut,” says John Brier, an American businessman who spoke with him over a series of video calls in 2023. He had a new girlfriend – another model, this time from Lithuania – and a new name, Repcenko. After his release from prison, he was involved in a business deal with King of the Cross John Ibrahim. “He’s a smooth bastard,” says Winton Taylor, a Queenslander who came to invest money with him.
The pair has overlapping gambling interests and serve as directors of the same data analysis company, which employs statisticians to work on horse races and sports matches around the world. Over two weeks, they bought Quick Pick tickets from convenience stores, carrying up to $US20,000 cash in cloth bags. The commission announced “players are turning out in droves to have the exclusive chance at winning the largest jackpot on the continent”.
But Nettles, watching the jackpot rise, could tell it was more than regular Texans would ever spend. Nettles lives in the suburbs of Dallas and has been playing the Texas lottery since it was founded in 1992. In April 2023, after a record seven months without a prize winner, the jackpot passed $US70 million. One, in a previous life, dated supermodel Miranda Kerr and spent time in a NSW jail for fraud.
Over 640 pages, Austrac accuses the UK bookmaking giant of failing to catch “large amounts of money being regularly moved”. The body that runs the Matildas and Socceroos wants a bigger cut of money made from punters. The British bookmaker said about 120 positions in Australia and New Zealand would go as it tries to reset the business after a change of management. This has been corrected to say the company’s chairman.
Lottery.com even asked its former chief financial officer – the same one it had fired months earlier for illegal ticket printing – to come and help, according to a later lawsuit. After the company’s chairman received the video as an update, he replied by text “Af—ingamazing”. In a short video of the Spicewood operation, two children can be seen hunched over terminals. But that April, after months of not selling a single ticket, it burst into life. The company also overstated its revenue by $US52 million.
Marantelli says the commission was aware of how the bets were being placed. “‘We have been operating a syndicated crime organisation in the Texas government,” the former air force captain says. Lawyers for the syndicate have moved to have the case dismissed.
For a player with a single $1 ticket tucked in their wallet or stuck to the fridge, the chance of winning the top prize was 25.8 million to one.
The numbers drawn were beyond his control.
In his eyes, the company was meant to focus on everyday lottery customers, not “rich jackasses trying to game the system, doing Hail Mary events once in a blue moon”.
But Nettles, watching the jackpot rise, could tell it was more than regular Texans would ever spend.
The senate nearly voted to get rid of the lottery itself, one of the largest in the United States, which has contributed tens of billions of dollars to public projects over its three-decade history.
The article previously said “After the company’s chief executive received the video as an update”… “I was more excited when we printed the last ticket,” he says. The numbers drawn were beyond his control.
Ranogajec ordered his troops to buy as many tickets as they could after receiving a tip from some smaller-time gamblers. About 28 million tickets were sold, roughly 10 times the normal volume. The chief executive who led the company since 2019 will step down upon the completion of a new anti-money-laundering program.
In 1994, Ranogajec cashed cheques worth millions to spend on Keno, the pub lottery game, at the North Ryde RSL in Sydney. They moved into other forms of gambling, using more sophisticated mathematics combined with a brute-force approach. Both were good at maths and Ranogajec was already into gambling. Walsh revealed at an investment conference in 2022 that their syndicate, led by Ranogajec, placed about $10 billion in bets each year. The syndicate could still stand a good chance of losing most of that $4 million. He threw a party for some of the store owners at a sports bar, even though he failed to win the draw.
In his eyes, the company was meant to focus on everyday lottery customers, not “rich jackasses trying to game the system, doing Hail Mary events once in a blue moon”. And he said, ‘Oh, we sent over QR codes, and we hooked them up to the machines, and we printed all the tickets’.” Repcenko lived in Malta, a hub for online gambling businesses. On top of the $US26 million spent in the final draw, “substantial money was wagered and lost on previous draws” in the weeks before. He declines to comment on other syndicate members or the amount of money he personally collected in winnings. “His mates filled out tickets all week, and he organised a newsagent to stay open 24 hours a day so he could get the tickets on.” In the end, they held the only winning ticket.
Using another failing industry as a justification for not adequately protecting Australians from gambling harm is a cop out, an opportunity fluffed.
Red wines are changing – lighter, brighter and a little slinky
His team had bought more than 25 million tickets, which now filled the cardboard boxes stacked high against the hotel room wall. In a crowded hotel room not far from Austin, Bernard Marantelli and his team watched a live-stream of the Texas lottery draw. Bernard Marantelli has for the past few decades outsmarted many in the wagering industry, including US authorities after he won a $95 million lottery jackpot. The ASX-listed wagering group will upgrade online pokies australia real money its betting terminals and broadcast displays across the Laundy Hotels portfolio, but lock its rival out. Virtual Gaming Worlds was one of the early beneficiaries of a US legislative loophole in states where gambling is otherwise banned. The British bookmaker behind Ladbrokes and Neds allegedly allowed more than a dozen high-risk customers to funnel money through its accounts despite the risks.
The Star case is a warning for boards and a setback for the regulator
Brier says Repcenko asked him for some help organising a bulk ticket purchase in Indiana. Brier was suing Texas-based courier Lottery.com for allegedly failing to pay $US15 million in a business acquisition. “He seemed charming, you know, looked clean cut,” says John Brier, an American businessman who spoke with him over a series of video calls in 2023. He had a new girlfriend – another model, this time from Lithuania – and a new name, Repcenko. After his release from prison, he was involved in a business deal with King of the Cross John Ibrahim. “He’s a smooth bastard,” says Winton Taylor, a Queenslander who came to invest money with him.
The pair has overlapping gambling interests and serve as directors of the same data analysis company, which employs statisticians to work on horse races and sports matches around the world. Over two weeks, they bought Quick Pick tickets from convenience stores, carrying up to $US20,000 cash in cloth bags. The commission announced “players are turning out in droves to have the exclusive chance at winning the largest jackpot on the continent”.
But Nettles, watching the jackpot rise, could tell it was more than regular Texans would ever spend. Nettles lives in the suburbs of Dallas and has been playing the Texas lottery since it was founded in 1992. In April 2023, after a record seven months without a prize winner, the jackpot passed $US70 million. One, in a previous life, dated supermodel Miranda Kerr and spent time in a NSW jail for fraud.
Over 640 pages, Austrac accuses the UK bookmaking giant of failing to catch “large amounts of money being regularly moved”. The body that runs the Matildas and Socceroos wants a bigger cut of money made from punters. The British bookmaker said about 120 positions in Australia and New Zealand would go as it tries to reset the business after a change of management. This has been corrected to say the company’s chairman.
Lottery.com even asked its former chief financial officer – the same one it had fired months earlier for illegal ticket printing – to come and help, according to a later lawsuit. After the company’s chairman received the video as an update, he replied by text “Af—ingamazing”. In a short video of the Spicewood operation, two children can be seen hunched over terminals. But that April, after months of not selling a single ticket, it burst into life. The company also overstated its revenue by $US52 million.
Marantelli says the commission was aware of how the bets were being placed. “‘We have been operating a syndicated crime organisation in the Texas government,” the former air force captain says. Lawyers for the syndicate have moved to have the case dismissed.
The article previously said “After the company’s chief executive received the video as an update”… “I was more excited when we printed the last ticket,” he says. The numbers drawn were beyond his control.
Ranogajec ordered his troops to buy as many tickets as they could after receiving a tip from some smaller-time gamblers. About 28 million tickets were sold, roughly 10 times the normal volume. The chief executive who led the company since 2019 will step down upon the completion of a new anti-money-laundering program.
In 1994, Ranogajec cashed cheques worth millions to spend on Keno, the pub lottery game, at the North Ryde RSL in Sydney. They moved into other forms of gambling, using more sophisticated mathematics combined with a brute-force approach. Both were good at maths and Ranogajec was already into gambling. Walsh revealed at an investment conference in 2022 that their syndicate, led by Ranogajec, placed about $10 billion in bets each year. The syndicate could still stand a good chance of losing most of that $4 million. He threw a party for some of the store owners at a sports bar, even though he failed to win the draw.
In his eyes, the company was meant to focus on everyday lottery customers, not “rich jackasses trying to game the system, doing Hail Mary events once in a blue moon”. And he said, ‘Oh, we sent over QR codes, and we hooked them up to the machines, and we printed all the tickets’.” Repcenko lived in Malta, a hub for online gambling businesses. On top of the $US26 million spent in the final draw, “substantial money was wagered and lost on previous draws” in the weeks before. He declines to comment on other syndicate members or the amount of money he personally collected in winnings. “His mates filled out tickets all week, and he organised a newsagent to stay open 24 hours a day so he could get the tickets on.” In the end, they held the only winning ticket.