Billionaire Adrian ‘Mr Lambo’ Portelli has made a shocking announcement after revealing the winner of his lottery for a $3.5million mansion, featured on The Block, was banned from claiming the prize.

Adrian Portelli has gifted a whopping cash prize to the winner of his lottery for a multi-million dollar mansion after she was told she was not allowed to own the property.

The billionaire, who previously starred in The Block, organised a lottery for the $3.5million renovated mansion, which featured on the Channel Nine series.

A South Australian woman named Donna, from Murray Bridge, won the top prize, but later discovered that although she was allowed to enter the draw, state laws meant she was unable to claim her winnings.

The $3.5million mansion on Phillip Island, Victoria, was purchased by Mr Portelli during The Block’s 2024 auction before being offered as a prize in his LCMT+ lottery earlier this month.

Adrian Portelli gifted $100,000 to the South Australian winner of one of his LCMT+ lotteries after she was told she wasn’t allowed to claim the top prize. Picture: Facebook
Mr Portelli broke the news to the disappointed winner over the phone before telling her he wanted to help.

He explained he would be forced to redraw the lottery because of South Australia’s restrictions.

“I just wanted to call you right, because yes, we can’t give you the prize, but I just wanted to personally myself give you $100,000,” he said.

Donna replied: “Oh my god, are you allowed to?”

“This is a personal gift from me to say thank you for understanding and going through what you’ve had to go through,” he said.

Mr Portelli purchased the $3.5million mansion on Phillip Island, Victoria, during The Block’s 2024 auction. Picture: OBrien/Judith Wright
“And I’d like to give you $100,000 of my personal money.”

The billionaire, who stated he had reached out to Donna before telling his followers, branded local state laws “absolute nonsense”.

“Donna won first prize, which was Maddie and Charlotte’s house. She is not eligible to win the prize, so the prize will be redrawn,” he said.

“It’s absolute nonsense that she cannot win a prize. We must abide by these rules, and we have to redraw the prize.”

Taking aim at South Australia’s gaming laws, Mr Portelli blamed the mix-up on the state and revealed he was implementing a new lottery prize to help out Australians who have been missing out on the big prizes.

“Because of this issue with the South Australian government, that has been going on for roughly a year now, we decided until we come up with a solution, to run a $1,000 daily giveaway for South Australians,” he said.

“We draw out a South Australian and we give them $1,000, which we have been doing every single day.”

Earlier this year, the billionaire appeared in Adelaide Magistrates Court and pleaded not guilty to 19 charges relating to allegations he was running “unlawful lotteries in South Australia”.

He said the case against him arose because “someone woke up on the wrong side of bed”.