Golden Casket Lottery Corporation Limited - s.87B undertaking

Golden Casket Lottery Corporation Limited (ACN 078 785 449) is a Government Owned Corporation under the Government Owned Corporations Act 1993 (Qld). All the shares in Golden Casket are owned on behalf of the State of Queensland.

Golden Casket's primary operation is concerned with the conduct of approved lotteries in accordance with the Lotteries Act 1997 (Qld) and associated approved procedures. In 1997 Golden Casket was granted a 25 year lottery license under the Lotteries Act 1997 (Qld), with the first 12 years being on an exclusive basis. An integral part of the conduct by Golden Casket of approved lotteries is the maintenance of a network of approved lottery agents.

In June 1991 an application was made to Golden Casket for appointment as a Golden Casket lottery agent in the Victoria Point Shopping Centre, Brisbane. The application was rejected by Golden Casket due to a concern that the establishment of a Golden Casket lottery agency in the proposed premised would give rise to the risk of a serious redistribution of lottery sales away from an existing Golden Casket lottery agency in the area.

The Commission has expressed concern that Golden Casket has a substantial degree of power in the Queensland market for the supply of lottery operating services and had taken advantage of that power for a purpose prohibited by section 46 of the Trade Practices Act 1974 ('the Act').

In view of the Commission's concerns, Golden Casket has entered into an undertaking with the Commission pursuant to section 87B of the Act to address the concerns raised, whereby Golden Casket agrees to:

• review and, if necessary, amend its agency selection criteria to ensure they do not contain factors which, if relied upon in determining whether to accept agency applications, could place Golden Casket at risk of breaching section 46;
• continue to make its selection criteria publicly available;
• ensure that market analysis undertaken for the purpose of assessing the impact of the appointment of a proposed agent will be of a standard reasonably suitable for its intended purpose;
• develop a public complaints-handling process; and
• upgrade its Trade Practices Compliance Program.