James Debono

The Lotteries and Gaming Authority intends to impose a ban on gaming halls operating within 100 metres from schools and other educational institutions.
Currently no legislation exists to curtail gaming centres from opening within the vicinity of schools and other places frequented by children to the extent that in Marsa, a gaming hall was opened just across the road from the catechism centre.
“Gaming halls are yet not regulated by law,” Mario Galea, the chief executive of the LGA, told MaltaToday. This means that gaming halls are currently regulated by the same laws on amusement machines, which are not banned from being within the vicinity of schools.
Galea said the proposed regulations on gaming halls offering video lottery terminals will have to be at least 100 metres away from schools. “Moreover all gaming halls will be equipped with surveillance devices in order to ensure that no minors or vulnerable players are inside the premises.”
Asked what will happen to gaming halls which are currently allowed to operate in the vicinity of places frequented by children like catechism centres, Galea acknowledged a practical problem because technically gaming halls should not exist even exist.
“Keep in mind that today, gaming halls should ‘not exist’, therefore we have to receive new applications to grant permits,” Galea told MaltaToday.
He also highlighted the fact that at present there is no authority regulating the siting of gaming halls. “I agree that gaming halls have to be kept away from schools and other places of social formation, however we have a practical problem, that today there is no authority which is officially responsible for these activities and their location.”
The proliferation of gaming halls has prompted Sedqa and the Foundation for Social Welfare to call on the government to stop gaming halls from opening next to places frequented by children. “Simply ensuring that under-18s do not enter these premises is not enough of a deterrent. Gambling halls should not be allowed within 100 metres of any school, youth club, playground or where it is known that young people congregate, ” Sedqa’s chief executive Jean Claude Cardona told MaltaToday.
Sedqa is also recommending that under-18s should not be allowed in premises where licensed gambling can take place, adding that all forms of sponsoring of sports and cultural events by the gaming industry should be prohibited.
Sedqa is also proposing that a percentage of taxes and profits collected from gaming should be channelled to the provision of prevention and therapy services for gamblers. Family and Social Solidarity Minister Dolores Christina has requested the National Commission for Drugs, Alcohol, and Other Dependencies, to draft a national policy on gambling.
“This policy should give utmost consideration to various proposals to act in response to the effects of the gambling industry particularly on children and young people,” a spokesperson for Minister Cristina told MaltaToday.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt