Australia’s The Lottery Corporation (TLC) remains confident in its prospects after a mixed end to the 2025/26 financial year, all the while the regulatory landscape around its business continues to shift.
The company finds itself competing in a new era for Australian betting, gaming and lotteries, with legislation having been approved by the national parliament last week to amend the 2001 Interactive Gaming Act.
Heading into this new era, with its results published just before parliament approved the above mentioned legislation, The Lottery Corporation remains a formidable business with revenue of AU$3.8bn (£2bn) for the whole of FY26 – the Australian financial year having ended on 30 June 2026.
However, this was 2.8% lower than the year prior when revenue came in at just under $3.7bn. EBITDA also dropped marginally by 1.8% from $749m to $736m, though leadership still saw FY26 as being an overall positive year for the company.
The group stated that FY26 saw an “especially favourable period for jackpots”, apparently a one-in-every-45-year eventuality. Group leadership believes that the fact revenue only dipped slightly in the face of higher payouts made to customers as a result of this is indicative of TLC’s resilience.
TLC continues to develop at pace since its creation in 2022 via the demerger of Australian betting market leader Tabcorp’s lotteries and keno division. The new firm subsequently listed on the ASX and has been initiating business restructuring under the leadership of Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Wayne Pickup.
“The Lottery Corporation’s infrastructure-like qualities were again evident in FY26, underpinned by our long-dated licences, trusted brands, scaled distribution and reliable cash generation,” Pickup remarked.
“The recent 40-year extension of the Victorian lottery licence has structurally lowered the risk of our business, extended the duration of our licence base and reinforced our strong investment-grade credit rating.
“In an especially unfavourable period for Powerball and Oz Lotto jackpots – a 1 in c.45 year outcome – the Board’s confidence in the health of the business and growth outlook enabled us to look through these fluctuations and maintain the dividend for shareholders in line with the prior year.
“Where we control the levers, we performed well, with healthy retention of price increases in our two largest games – Powerball and Saturday lotto – and continued growth in base games and Keno. Our expense discipline was structural, not a one-off. It gives us room to reinvest in digital, AI, product and customer capability.”
Leadership confident in lottery reset
Australia’s Labor government, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has been under pressure from backbench MPs from across the political spectrum to make good on gambling reforms for some time.
Campaigners have been particularly keen for the 31 recommendations of a 2022/23 parliamentary review of gambling and its societal impact, the Murphy report, to be implemented into legislation.
The bill passed last week did not encompass this. It largely focused on advertising, though still fell short of the complete ban on advertising many campaigners have been calling for, but it did also include some mention of lotteries.
The two main provisions were:
- A ban on foreign matched lotteries i.e. platforms that allow Australians to bet on the outcomes of overseas lotteries.
- A ban on digital keno operations.
The former is something that serves TLC’s interests, but the latter is less so. This is especially true after FY26, with the group having cited continued growth in Keno.
On top of legislative changes, there is also the matter of the 40-year Victoria contract referenced by Pickup.
This deal has faced a lot of scrutiny, with members of the Liberal National Coalition in Victoria criticising TLC’s alleged closeness with the Labor government, and the lack of a competitive tender.
Nonetheless, Pickup remains confident that he and fellow TLC management have “reset the business with a new operating model, refreshed strategy and clear growth levers”.
“This plan, centred around the proposition ‘Where Australia Comes to Play’ is now live, giving us an executable path to unlock the full growth potential and value of the business as a digitally-led entertainment platform,” he concluded.