A 72-year-old lotto receiver was slightly injured but managed to foil a hold-up at his lotto office in Hamrun this morning.

The police said that a hooded man armed with a knife entered the lotto office in Duke of Edinburgh Street at about 8.45. He demanded cash.

The lotto receiver, Frank Pizzuto from Birkirkara, grabbed the knife and suffered a slash wound to a finger.

The would-be thief then ran out empty handed.

The police are investigating.

There was no one else in the lotto office at the time.