High-profile businessman Adrian Portelli says he has proof his company was "fed misinformation", as his trial on unlawful lottery charges begins.
Portelli, 35, of Melbourne, is facing a two-day trial in Adelaide Magistrates Court charged with nine counts of conducting or assisting in the conduct of an unlawful lottery in SA.
His business Xclusive Tech Pty Ltd, trading under the name LMCT+, is charged with 10 counts of the same offence.
The charges, instigated by SA's Consumer and Business Services, allege Portelli's business did not hold a licence to conduct 10 separate lotteries between January 29, 2023 and May 16, 2024.
Portelli's company offers members subscriptions to a "rewards club" that includes entries to win cars and properties.
Under SA law, any trade promotion lotteries with prizes exceeding AU$5000 (NZ$5562) need a licence to operate and entries must be free of charge.
Portelli gained fame as "the Lambo Guy" in 2022, after arriving at a house auction for The Block in a yellow Lamborghini.
In the 2024 series of the reality show, he spent AU$15.03 million (NZ$16.7 million) to acquire all five homes on offer.
Portelli laughed and smiled broadly as the court was shown videos published online of him conducting lottery draws and contacting winners.
The first three videos shown to the court today included first prizes of a house featured on the TV series The Block or AU$3 million (NZ$3.3 million), a Devil Yellow HSV car and a AU$250,000 (NZ$278,054) cash prize.
Consumer and Business Services senior investigator Jeff Betts told the court that no licences had been granted by CBS for the lotteries.
Outside court, Portelli said the morning's proceedings had been "a trip down memory lane".
"I'm enjoying it, I'm watching videos I haven't seen in years," he said.
Asked what his defence would be, Portelli said: "I can't say anything at the moment.
"It's a big miscommunication between both parties," he said.
"We've complied with every state in Australia, bar SA.
"We had a good relationship with them but someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."
Asked if he thought the prosecution was a waste of taxpayers' money, he said: "Yeah, I think it is. I'm not going to sit down and let them walk all over me. I'm going to fight it."
He said his company had not been refunded tens of thousands of dollars after being refused any more lottery permits in SA.
"We've got a bunch of correspondence between both parties. They don't even know what's going on," he told reporters.
"They've given us wrong information. This is why we kept operating the way we were, because we were fed misinformation from their end and we've got proof of that.
"My lawyer's probably shaking his head at me because I'm talking all this but really I don't give a f***."
Portelli and his company faces a maximum penalty of AU$190,000 (NZ$211,312).
He has previously said on social media if he were convicted, he would "round it up to AU$200,000 (NZ$222,434)".
The trial, before magistrate Melanie Burton, continues.
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