Adrian Portelli pleads not guilty to illegal lotteries charges, blames trial on 'big miscommunication'

Prominent Melbourne property investor Adrian Portelli has labelled the court action against him a "waste" of "taxpayers' money" on day one of his trial over allegations he ran illegal lotteries in South Australia. 

Mr Portelli and his company, Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, entered not guilty pleas in the Adelaide Magistrates Court to a total of 19 charges of being a person conducting or assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery.

Outside court, Mr Portelli was critical of the trial, saying he would continue to fight the charges and that the case against him arose because "someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed".

The court heard Mr Portelli had repeatedly run lotteries without the appropriate licences.

Liquor and Gaming Commission prosecutor Stephanie Wilson told the court that Mr Portelli had offered lottery prizes, including homes and prestige cars, through his business in 2023 and 2024.

Ms Wilson said the prizes included several houses Mr Portelli purchased on The Block television show, as well as cash prizes up to $500,000 and two high-performance Commodore HSVs.

Ms Wilson said that Mr Portelli had held lottery licences in the past, but not at the time of the alleged offences.

"It is the prosecution case that some of the giveaways conducted by the company and assisted by Mr Portelli are unlawful lotteries in South Australia," Ms Wilson said.

"The purpose of the Lotteries Act includes making sure lotteries are conducted fairly and in an honest way so as to maintain public confidence and accountability to protect the community from fraudulent or exploitative purposes and to support fundraising activities that benefit the community."

The court was shown a video in which Mr Portelli said he had given away more than $50 million in prizes.

'They're wasting taxpayers' money'

Speaking outside court, Mr Portelli said he was committed to contesting the charges but could not "say anything at the moment" about the arguments the defence would rest on.

He blamed the case on a "big miscommunication between both parties".

"We're compliant with every state in Australia bar South Australia," he said.

"We were compliant once upon a time, we had a good relationship with them, and someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

"I'm willing to fight it and just drag it through the court system, so I'm not going to sit down and let them walk all over me, I'm going to fight it and they are — they're wasting taxpayers' money."

Asked whether he was taking the matter seriously, he responded, "yeah, as much as I should be".

The trial is expected to last for two days.

"My lawyer is probably shaking his head at me because I'm talking all this, but really I don't give a f***," Mr Portelli said at one point.

"Whether it's thrown out or not, I just don't give a crap, to be honest. If they are going to try and fine me, I'm going to make them work for it."

As per South Australia's Lotteries Act 2019, any lottery that is not licensed in the state is unlawful, with organisers facing a maximum penalty of $10,000.

The alleged offences do not carry a prison term.