Band clubs lose out on ticket sales commission

Band clubs are no longer receiving a commission from lotto and Super Five ticket sales after the government privatised the Lotto Department.

When lotto offices were opened in 1932 they had been entrusted to band clubs, traditionally the most important cultural hubs in Maltese villages, to ensure that lotto sales were regular. In exchange, band clubs received a commission - today worth some Lm4,000 a year in some cases - from ticket sales, which helped them buy musical instruments and teach music to children and youngsters for free. With the money, they also gave donations to people in need and financed musical concerts, also paying bandsmen for their service during feasts.

But since the government privatised the Lotto Department in July, the revenue raised by the band clubs' lotto offices dried up.

"In a budget speech, the Finance Minister had said that band clubs, sports and philanthropic associations would still benefit from lotto sales after the privatisation of the department," Lawrence Farrugia, president of the Maltese Band Clubs Association, told the press before handing a petition to the Prime Minister's secretary at Castille yesterday.

"Band clubs are still important centres which have a valuable role in society. They teach music for free and promote cultural traditions besides feasts," Mr Farrugia said.

He explained that Maltese band clubs all had a lotto office except for four or five that had opened in the last five years. In most clubs, lotto offices mainly operated free of charge and were not asked to pay electricity bills, while others paid only a nominal fee.

When the association asked if they would still get a commission after privatisation, the acting director of the Lotto Department replied quoting the Finance Minister's budget speech. Band clubs, would still receive a commission through a fund that should have served this purpose, the government had promised.

Band clubs received their last monthly cheque in July after which they got no reply as to whether they would still receive the commission.

"We are asking for a meeting with the Prime Minister as soon as possible. If we don't receive a reply by the end of the month, we will decide what action to take," Mr Farrugia said.

Maltese band clubs, claiming a 28,000-strong membership, made about Lm180,000 a year from the lotto commission. "Some clubs make Lm1,500 each and other get Lm4,000 a year, depending on sales," Joseph Vella, secretary of the Band Clubs Association said.

The Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM) and the Lotto Receivers' Union (LRU) supported the association's petition, insisting that the government should honour its commitment to band clubs.

The unions' said the government had committed itself to set up a Fund for Just Causes in a meeting between the privatisation unit, representatives of the Finance Ministry and of the two unions. It had also declared in Parliament that such a fund would substitute the band clubs' commission from lotto sales.

The livelihood of 90 lotto receivers operating from band clubs was at risk since band clubs could no longer guarantee them a place in their premises if the commission the clubs received was stopped for good, the unions said.