'Close down' illegal gaming arcades

Gaming arcades violating the conditions of their licence should be considered illegal and closed down until the government finalises the legislation to regulate them, Parliament's Social Affairs Committee has recommended.

Such arcades have been exploiting the absence of a legal framework and opening in every village and town under the guise of amusement machine outlets, sometimes just metres away from youth centres.

The committee heard heart-rending accounts of people who fell prey to these addictive outlets, from a woman who discovered the family had nothing left because the husband had gambled everything away, including the family home, to another instance where a 15-year-old had to drag her mother, who lives on social benefits, out of an arcade.

According to the committee such shops are abusing their trading licence, which does not give them the right to provide gambling activities.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said last month that the present situation was further exacerbated because the arcades' lack of legal standing made it hard for the police to enforce the law.

Some had a permit from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, others had a trading licence of sorts and some operated without a licence.

Under the chairmanship of Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo, the committee discussed the effect of gambling shops on the community.

Lotteries and Gaming Authority acting chief executive, Michael Gonzi said it was the authority that had the onus to issue the relevant licences. However, since there was still no legal notice to regulate such licences, none had been issued.

The board was addressing the problem, he said, and a short-term plan would be presented to Minister Fenech. The board intended to regularise the situation as soon as possible and not all the shops that were open would necessarily remain so.

Authority chairman Nick Xuereb said the board was also discussing a long-term plan to prevent gaming in internet cafés, for example.

At the end of the sitting, the committee moved a number of recommendations for the authority to consider in its regulations. These include that shops abusing their licence should be considered illegal and closed down, at least until the necessary legislation was drawn up. The entrance age to such places should be 25 and a distinction between gaming and amusement machines be removed.

The committee said consideration should be given to how many such arcades should be allowed in a community. These places should be kept a suitable distance from churches and schools.

Moreover, there should be regulations prohibiting adults from being accompanied by people under 25, including babies.

The committee proposed an education and prevention campaign as well as monitoring and audits on the activity and advertising of such outlets.

Opening times should also be limited, making the operation not so financially viable while being careful not to force it underground.

At the beginning of the sitting, Caritas representative Joe Chetcuti, who works with gamblers and their families, described compulsive gambling as a progressive disorder for which there was no cure. In Canada, he said, one in every four people who committed suicide had a gambling problem.

He pointed out that while those entering a casino had to be over 25, everyone could set foot in the gambling halls that were mushrooming all over Malta's towns and villages. Women with children, including babies and toddlers in pushchairs, were regularly seen in these halls.

A woman, who remained anonymous, said many housewives were gamblers and their husbands remained in the dark about their wives' addictive habits. Many women visited these outlets after taking their children to school.

Caritas representative John Zammit, who deals with usury victims, said that 70 per cent of people with a usury problem found themselves in this situation because of gambling. Most of the people who organised illegal gaming also loaned money illegally, he said.

Mr Zammit pointed out that an overview committee for safe gaming had not met since June 2006.