Maltco Lotteries Ltd donated €15,000 to the Malta Community Chest Fund highlighting the need for the charity to receive help throughout the whole year.

Presenting the money to President George Abela, Maltco CEO John Katakis said the donation was being made at this time of the year to demonstrate the need for continuous support for the MCCF’s work throughout the year rather than just during fund raising events.

Dr Katakis said helping individuals with different needs was always close to his heart, recalling that his initial working experience was with paraplegics.

Maltco has been holding the National Lottery since June 2004 and this, a spokesman explained, also enabled the generation of significant funds to the National Lotteries Good Causes Fund.

Till the end of 2010, nearly €5 million were generated for this fund, which falls under the remit of the Ministry of Finance.

Since it commenced operations, Maltco’s activity generated more than €100 million in revenue to the government by way of initial and on-going licence fees and taxes with over 900 people involved in the operation on a full-time or part-time basis, the spokesman added.

Maltese entrepreneurs own 27 per cent of Maltco Lotteries’ shares, the rest held by Intralot SA, a leading supplier of integrated gaming and transaction processing systems, innovative game content and sports betting management to state-licensed gaming organisations worldwide. It is present in more than 50 countries on all five continents.