Competition Tribunal orders Google to allow LottoLand advertising in SA

Stephen Grootes chats to Jan Vermeulen, editor of MyBroadband.

Search engine Google has run foul of South Africa's Competition Tribunal in its dispute with Lottoland.

The Tribunal has granted the licensed bookmaker interim relief to allow Lottoland SA to access Google's advertising platform, Google Ads.

Lottoland offers fixed-odds betting on the outcome of various lotteries worldwide, including the South African national lottery.

The betting platform claims that it lost close to R70 million in revenue since Google denied it access to advertising services, while allowing rival bookmakers to continue.

The Tribunal says in a brief statement that the Competition Commission is investigating Lottoland’s allegations.

'The interim order is valid for six months, or the conclusion of a hearing into the alleged prohibited practices, whichever occurs first.'

Stephen Grootes discusses the ruling with Jan Vermeulen, editor of MyBroadband.

"On face value it really just seems like Google systems picked up something in whatever Lottoland was doing, immediately flagged it and revoked Lottoland's certifications while still allowing every other bookmaker in the country to do what it was doing."

"The Competition Tribunal found against that and to allow Lottoland to continue advertising or ban everybody equally."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - MyBroadband

Grootes painstakingly reads out the exact amount in lost revenue cited by LottoLand - R69 077 665.24.

This very specific number points to just how measured digital advertising is, and how important Google ads is to this bookmaker, he says.

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