€10 million increase in parlour betting

A staggering €57 million was played in bets in Malta’s 42 gaming parlours in 2014.

While bets increased by €10 million over 2013 figures, the number of people who ban themselves for either six months or a year from all licensed gaming premises has risen from 970 in 2013 to 1,043 in 2014.

These statistics were given by the parliamentary secretariat for business and economic growth in reply to questions by MaltaToday. 

The money played in Malta’s 42 gaming parlours has increased from €46,815,952 in 2013 to €56,712,711, which translates into a 21% rise.

In the same period winnings also increased from €41,706,031 to €51,591,570.

The gross gaming revenue made by gaming parlours went up slightly from €5,109,921 to €5,121,140.

Despite this small increase in profits, the tax collected by the government declined by €308,579 from €1,359,258 to €1,050,679. 

The decrease in tax revenue reflects the change in tax model for Gaming Devices, which came into effect in March 2014. 

No information presently exists on the number of persons who frequented gaming parlours, so the increase in bets can either mean the same people are playing more or that more people are attending gaming parlours. 

“The latter would be a better option for a responsible gaming culture as this would mean more people playing responsibly,” Labour MP Silvio Schembri, who chairs the Responsible Gaming Foundation, told MaltaToday.

Schembri said the statistics show a clear correlation between an increase in money played and an increase in winnings. “Gaming parlours are becoming more and more popular.”

Currently there are 42 gaming parlours in Malta, found in 26 localities in Malta and Gozo, including socially depressed areas like Bormla, Isla and Marsa and even small villages like Gudja.

But Schembri insists that the popularity of gaming parlours does not necessarily mean that these are having a negative social impact.

“One has to realise that gaming should be considered as a recreational activity rather than a money-making habit. So more gaming parlours does not necessarily mean that they are promoting a less responsible culture.”

As long as marketing is responsible and there is adequate monitoring, follow-ups and preventative measures, gaming parlours can still form part of “a culture of responsible gaming,” Schembri said.

Compulsive gamblers

Caritas spokesperson Marica Mizzi distinguished between those who are compulsive gamblers and have an addiction, and others who do not have this problem.

But people who are not compulsive gamblers may have other problems, such as spending their limited incomes on gambling and therefore denying their families other needs, Mizzi said.

Caritas is the only organisation in Malta to organise self-help groups on the model of Alcoholics Anonymous. MaltaToday talked to one of the persons who works with gambling addicts in these groups.

“The fact that gaming parlours have mushroomed in nearly all towns and villages increases the temptation for compulsive gamblers,” he told MaltaToday on condition of anonymity.

But the same source confirmed that these parlours are only one temptation among many others for compulsive gamblers, who can now find a wider choice of games in lotto outlets and by the growing availability of online games.

He also referred to a small but noticeable increase in senior gamblers who develop the addiction at old age when they have little else to do. “One can perceive an increase in older people who take up the gambling habit in old age when they have little else to do. For this category there are more options than ever.”

Self-barred gamblers

One indication of a growing gambling problem is that in 2014, 1,043 persons have signed a declaration through which they can bar themselves from all gaming premises.

563 have barred themselves for six months while 480 have barred themselves for 12 months.  

This number of persons who barred themselves from casinos and gaming parlours for either six or 12 months has increased from 910 in 2012 to 970 in 2013 to 1,043 now.

All gaming parlours are obliged by law to deny entry to anyone who has signed a self-barring declaration. “This statistic shows that a considerable number of people had no alternative but to withhold themselves from this activity altogether,” Schembri told MaltaToday. 

For Schembri this shows that some behavioural addictions cannot be controlled. This also underlines the importance of preventative “awareness campaigns”.

Marica Mizzi insisted that compulsive gamblers do not stop their addiction simply by barring themselves for six months or for a year but by seeking treatment.  

“We are faced with people who are torn by anxiety as the day when the self bar period expires approaches… in some cases people end up betting record sums as soon as the period expires only to renew the ban after going bankrupt again,” one of the persons working in the Caritas programme told MaltaToday.

But self-barring is an important step for addicts attending Gamblers Anonymous classes, especially in the initial period when the temptation to relapse could be greater.

The gaming saga

Nested inside residential areas, some 100 gaming outlets were allowed to open in the 2000s when normal shops started being converted through a simple ‘change-of-use’ permit from the MEPA, and a trading licence.

New rules in 2009 followed a clampdown by the government, seeing some of these parlours closed, and forbidding them within 75 metres of places of worship, schools and playgrounds.

Earlier last week, the Malta Gaming Authority amended the rules to allow gaming parlours to open in the vicinity of language schools, which are frequented by young people from other countries. 

The MGA said this would give greater certainty to licensees and applicants of gaming parlours and ensure that restrictions “are those which are absolutely necessary in order to safeguard the general public”.

8% of money collected from gaming taxes go to the Responsible Gaming Foundation. “Unfortunately in Malta, unlike in other countries, operators are not obliged to contribute directly to organisations such as the responsible gaming foundation,” Silvio Schembri said.