Lotto receivers should all be up and running and selling lottery products again by the end of the week after a dispute with the operator Maltco was resolved.

The 160 have not been able to sell lottery products because Maltco was refusing to install their new computer equipment before they signed their agreements

Yesterday, the company and the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, which is representing the receivers, agreed on the wording of a new agreement between the parties, which had been the subject of the dispute.

The agreement, which is to be signed individually by each receiver, deals with a €300,000 collective guarantee that covers Maltco in case of default by any receiver.

A total of 160 of them fall under this scheme, while about 40 others have their own agreements with the company.

The 160 have not been able to sell lottery products because Maltco was refusing to install their new computer equipment before they signed their agreements and submitted the monetary guarantee.

The receivers will now receive the new terminals over the next three days.

Joe Attard, a chamber director, confirmed the agreement last night. He said the lotto receivers will today attend a meeting during which they will be informed of the latest changes.

They will then sign their individual agreements, which will be submitted to Maltco together with the guarantee.

In an earlier dispute over the size of the collective guarantee scheme, settled following the intervention of Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, it had been agreed that the collective guarantee is to amount to €300,000, down from the €500,000 originally demanded by Maltco.