Nationalist MP Edwin Vassallo told Parliament on Monday there should be no distinction between the age of entry into casinos and gaming outlets in towns and villages.
Speaking during the debate in second reading of the Lotteries and Other Games (Amendment) Bill, Mr Vassallo said both premises should give access only to those who were 25 years and over. Moreover no person under 25 should be allowed to accompany a player in these outlets.
The aim of the Bill was not to regulate the industry so as to derive taxes but to protect the community. He disagreed with Opposition finance spokesman Charles Mangion that the industry ought to have been regulated earlier as this delay had brought about a loss of income through taxation.
He denied allegations that as Parliamentary Secretary during the last legislature he had issued any licence to gaming outlets, including those which were closed down recently.
Mr Vassallo noted that the comments of the House Social Affairs Committee were embodied in the Bill. One of its recommendations was the removal from the operator's discretion the designation of a machine as a gaming or amusement machine. He asked the Minister of Finance to ensure that the personnel of the gaming authority are kept free from corruption. This could only be done, he said, by the strict ministerial supervision.
The government had an important role in protecting public morality. It must ensure that the gaming industry did not develop through the passing trade concept. Neither should there be a monopoly within the gaming industry as this would jeopardise the likelihood of individuals.
The issue of a walking distance calculation for gaming outlets vis-a-vis other services in the village had been used for other sectors and this had been found to be a workable calculation.
Mr Vassallo referred to social difficulties that arose from gaming such as the increase in poverty. A culture indicating acceptance of gambling would bring about more underground gambling as opposed to other commercial sectors.
Concluding, he said that the Bill must not only provide for the supervision and regulation of licensed gaming outlets but also ensure enforcement within the underground gaming sector.
• Social Policy Minister John Dalli has said that since January, the Employment and Training Corporation carried out 63 inspections at gaming outlets and found 30 people, of whom two were foreigners, working without the owners having informed the corporation of their employment. The ETC was taking all steps according to law.
Answering a parliamentary question by Labour MP Adrian Vassallo, Mr Dalli said that according to the latest published statistics, at the end of November last year, there were 1,180 part- and full-time workers in the gaming industry.