Why is the Prime Minister, notwithstanding his strong Catholic beliefs, still refusing to interfere in the gambling spree that is crippling Maltese society?
Why does his conscience balk at the idea of introducing divorce, but does not prickle him in the same way when it comes to gambling? Can anyone tell me if the repercussions of one are not similar or even worse than the repercussions of the other?
You do not need to be a social worker at Appogg or Sedqa or Caritas to conclude that gambling is the worst vice ever: statistics show that gambling is a vice that one can never get rid of. So why are the authorities reluctant to take a stand and why do they stay aloof for the sake of free market? There is no question of free market economy with regards to gambling: it is a vice that needs to be controlled and not exploited.
In this day and age, all of a sudden, we have been presented with another side to the coin: that nowadays gambling is a virtue and that it is trendy to gamble. Whereas before there was a lot of hue and cry in the local media when people were arraigned on the charge of clandestine lotto and gambling, nowadays it is the norm to gamble. How sad that in order to boost our economy we have stooped so low as to include gambling as one of the pillars of our economy.
How odd it is for nobody to lift a finger to address this problem except for the GRTU and, more recently, Appogg. In the case of Appogg it is understandable; but for the GRTU, whose focus is business and money, to stand up and highlight the problem of gambling in this country, is both highly commendable and very odd. It seems that the GRTU is doing the work that other organizations and institutions like the Church should be doing.
And once the Church is silent, we take it to mean that it is an accomplice in this gambling spree; otherwise, it would make its voice heard and heard loud. I have ad nauseam repeated that the Church, as our shepherd, must take a stand before it is too late. Sometimes I think that the Church is not aware of the problems that this gambling spree is causing to the Maltese families and to the fabric of our society, as otherwise how can one explain all this indifference?
The Chairman of the Gaming Authority told us on television that his role is to ensure that the laws relating to gambling and gaming are obeyed and he gave us the impression that he is insensitive to the problems that this activity is causing to our society. He ought perhaps to have stated as well that he has statistics or information which shows that even the sales of medicines go down when the Super 5 stakes get high.
He also ought to have told us on television that the regulations on betting shops that are sprouting in every town and village in this country are still on the Prime Minister’s lap waiting to be signed. But for Gonzi, divorce, not gambling, is the real vice.
Because lest you are unaware, these gambling shops are totally unregulated, whereas casinos are more controlled than these shops. In a casino you can sign a declaration prohibiting you from entering for a period of time; in these gambling shops you cannot, even if you want to, because it is still not allowed by law.
Likewise, while you will get a higher punishment if you sell drugs in the vicinity of a social club, youth club and school, you can get away with murder if you open these gambling shops in the vicinity of the same schools and clubs.
And what about Internet gambling? We only hear about the handsome income that our country is getting from these licenses, and little do we realise that all this income is going back to the licensee’s pockets because internet gambling is also growing very fast, and is ruining our families and our children. In my work, I am now experiencing a new cause of separation and it is precisely internet gambling. I also hear that there seems to be a way of gambling online without paying by Visa because my clients have so far failed to detect payments from Visa or any other credit card.
It seems that those who gamble on the Internet are either opening a bank account abroad or there is another system. Many of our youngsters nowadays go around with laptops fooling their families and their people around them that they need the laptops for their studies when in actual fact they use them to gamble. Even in offices and in the courts of justice it is not the first time that we witness employees playing cards on the Internet; now whether it is for money and for kicks I do not know, but it has now become a common sight.
Lo and behold, it was the Socialist Prime Minister Dom Mintoff who had the courage to introduce a maximum amount of money that can be won in the national lottery and that was not done for the sake of socialism, but in order to try and discourage the people from gambling. Nowadays, although we have a Christian Democrat party in government and although we refuse to introduce divorce because statistics show that divorce ruins the family, (at least, so they say), we refuse to control gambling as though this vice is not ruining our families!
How much longer do we have to wait for action to be done on this matter? It seems that as long as cash is coming in, we are ready to sell our soul to the devil. Appogg must take a very harsh stand on the matter; university students and the university should conduct research into the impact of gambling on our families and our society; Caritas and the Church and all other organisations must pull their socks up and co-ordinate between them an action group to put pressure on the government to control this gambling spree.
In the meantime, I pray that none of us and of our children falls prey to this irreparable vice of gambling. And may the Government have a change of heart!