An independent foundation which aims to promote responsible gaming was launched yesterday.
Malta’s flourishing gaming industry is a lucrative contributor to the economy, accounting for about 10 per cent of GDP. However, the industry also has a dark underbelly, spawning players who could become addicted.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, Edward Zammit Lewis, explained that the Responsible Gaming Foundation would be self-sufficient, drawing its funds from contributions by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority (LGA), the EU and gaming operators.
The licence belonging to gaming company Maltco stipulates that it must contribute €50,000 annually to the foundation.
Dr Zammit Lewis stressed that while the foundation would be closely linked to the LGA, it would still keep a certain distance from it. Board members would include representatives from the ministries of education and social solidarity as well as from the LGA. Together, they would work on drafting a plan of action to promote responsible gaming.
Initiatives will include detailed studies on people with gambling addictions and their family members as well as aware-ness campaigns.
Describing gaming as “a necessary evil”, Social Solidarity Minister Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca said that addiction was often the offspring of a deeper-rooted problem, such as mental illness, joblessness or chronic illness.
Addressing addictions would be a way of grasping underlying social problems because “unaddressed social problems multiply and mushroom”, the minister said.
The government would, therefore, be setting up a national agency for prevention in various fields that would bring together all public and private entities that worked towards promoting prevention. These include the justice, education and health ministries, the University of Malta, the Foundation for Social Welfare Service (which incorporates Appoġġ and Sedqa), national commissions, youth organisations and Church organisations (such as Caritas and Oasi Foundation).
All stakeholders will be contributing towards the creation of a national prevention strategy, which will also be targeting alcohol, substance abuse and usury.
Dr Zammit Lewis said the government was aiming to strengthen enforcement and regulate various niches of gaming, such as digital games offering prizes, pointing out that this was the only way of keeping the black market at bay.
According to LGA executive chairman Joe Cuschieri, the gaming industry sector generated more than 7,000 jobs, excluding the indirect economic spin-off effect on other industries.
There are 250 remote gaming companies licensed in Malta but the LGA has more than 350 active licences. The number of licences grew by eight per cent over the past year.