Adrian ‘Lambo Guy’ Portelli has cemented his place as one of Australia’s richest businessmen with his debut on this year’s Rich List with an estimated wealth of $1.3 billion.
Portelli’s appearance on the Australian Financial Review’s annual wealth index at No. 125 comes seven months after he entered the same publication’s Young Rich List at No. 7 with $1.03 billion.
The 35-year-old also made his first appearance on The List, the Australian newspaper’s inventory of the country’s financial bigwigs, at number 116 in March.
Portelli has made much of his fortune through promotions company LMCT+, a private lottery company that uses a loophole to offer prizes including houses, cars and cash.
He is best known for his aggressive bidding on The Block, where he searches for renovated homes on the Nine Network reality show to give away to LMCT+’s 100,000 monthly subscribers.
Portelli caught the public’s attention in 2022 when he roared into The Block auction day with a bright yellow Lamborghini.
Adrian ‘Lambo Guy’ Portelli has cemented his place as one of Australia’s richest people with his debut on this year’s Rich List with an estimated wealth of $1.3 billion.
LMCT+ operates as a “business promotion” lottery issued under a New South Wales license to help businesses attract customers with rewards.
Portelli owns a fleet of flashy vehicles (he has claimed to have lost count of the number, but puts it at less than 50) and has an extensive property portfolio.
Last year he bought Melbourne’s most expensive apartment when he shelled out $39 million for a penthouse in the Sapphire by the Gardens development on LaTrobe Street.
Portelli made headlines when he used a crane to transport his $3 million Maclaren Senna GTR supercar up 57 levels for floor display.
Despite the huge price he paid for the platform, Portelli said at the time he didn’t particularly like city life and preferred living on the Gold Coast.
Portelli grew up in Melbourne’s western suburbs and dropped out of university to work in his father’s truck repair business.
Portelli made headlines last year when he used a crane to transport his $3 million Maclaren Senna GTR supercar up 57 floors for display in his $39 million Melbourne apartment.
He moved to Los Angeles, launched a celebrity limousine service, and established LMCT+ as a car enthusiast club in 2018.
“I was always humble because it wasn’t easy to get where I got,” Portelli told the AFR last year when he was named to the Young Rich List.
‘Every day I woke up thinking about being successful. I was just consumed by it. It was a bit of a loner, man, and it used to motivate me and keep pushing me.
The son of Maltese immigrants, Mr Portelli and his partner Karlie Butler have a 16-month-old son.
Laurence Escalante, founder of Virtual Gaming Worlds, is another youngster on the AFR rich list with $3.75 billion, up from $3.9 billion last year, in 34th place.
The 42-year-old also likes to share images of himself with his huge garage of supercars and also owns a Lamborghini – but his is a yacht.
The top ten spots on the Rich List were mostly occupied by household names, including iron ore queen Gina Rinehart ($40.61 billion) in first place, followed by real estate developer Harry Triguboff (26, 49 billion dollars).
Laurence Escalante, founder of Virtual Gaming Worlds, is another youngster on the AFR rich list with $3.75 billion, up from $3.9 billion last year, ranking 34th. Escalante pictured
Atlassian founder Mike Cannon-Brookes and his wife Annie come in third with $24.38 billion, followed by packaging king Anthony Pratt and his family ($23.3 billion) and Cannon-Brookes’ business partner, Scott Farquhar ($22.88 billion).
Next come resource titans Clive Palmer ($22.75 billion) and Nicola Forrest ($16.92 billion), making their singles debut after splitting from husband Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest.
Forrest ($16.76 billion) is next, while Ivan Glasenberg ($14.86 billion) of mining and commodities trading giant Glencore is ninth.
Husband and wife tech entrepreneurs Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht round out the top ten with $13.62 billion.
James and Gretel Packer, the children of the late television giant Kerry Packer, have increased their wealth but fell down the list with James ($5.69 billion) at No. 20 and Gretel ($2.18 billion) at No. 69.
Media mogul Lachlan Murdoch has a personal wealth of $3.7 billion at No. 35, up slightly from $3.34 billion since he took control of the family empire last year.
