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Gambling License Malta: Malta Lotteries and other Games Act

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Gambling License Malta: Malta Lotteries and other Games Act

PART I & II

PART I – PRELIMINARY

1. The short title of this Act is the Lotteries and Other Games

PART II – DEFINITIONS

2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

“amusement game” means a game played by means of an amusement machine;

“amusement machine” means any type of machine, whether operated electrically, electronically, mechanically, manually or otherwise, used for the purpose of playing games exclusively for amusement purposes and not for gambling purposes, and which is operated by the insertion of money or any amusement machine token and where in the operation thereof a successful player neither receives nor is offered any benefit other than the opportunity, if any, afforded by the automatic action of the machine to play the game again without the insertion of other money or amusement machine tokens;

“amusement machine token” means a device which can be bought for insertion in amusement machines instead of money, for the operation of such machines;

“approved meeting” means a meeting at which horse races and, or dog races, other than trial races, are held on an approved racecourse with the approval of the respective Racecourse Control Board appointed in respect of such approved racecourse under article 46;

“approved racecourse” means any racecourse and any ground adjacent thereto, in respect of which racecourse and adjacent ground there is a valid certificate of approval issued by the Minister responsible for sport under article 44;

“approved racing club” means a racing club in respect of which there is a valid certificate of approval issued by the Minister responsible for sport under article 45;

“authorised game” means a game authorised by the Authority to be operated by a licensee in terms of its licence or a game operated by persons or other entities exempted from any licencing or authorisation requirement or permitted to operate such game without the need of any licence or authorisation in terms of this Act or regulations made thereunder;

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“Author i ty” me ans the Lot ter ie s and Gaming Author i ty established under article 9;

“bet” means a game in which the player is required to forecast any result or outcome in respect of one event or a set of events; and “betting” shall be construed as the playing of a bet;

“broadcasting media game” means any game which is organised by the owner or operator of a radio or television station, or a subcontractor thereof, where the participation of players therein takes place by or as a result of their presence during the transmission or the recording of the programme during which such game is organised or by any intervention on their part by any means of distance communication during or after the transmission or the recording of the programme during which such game is organised< and “broadcasting media game licence” means a licence to operate a broadcasting media game granted by the Authority to the owner or operator of a radio or television station or a sub-contractor thereof under article 41, and “broadcasting media game licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“Chairman” means the Chairman of the Authority, and includes the Deputy Chairman or other person appointed to act as Chairman as mentioned in the circumstances contemplated in article 9(3);

“Chief Executive” means the Chief Executive appointed under article 14(1);

“commercial communication game” means a game which is organised with the purpose to promote or encourage the sale of goods or services, and which does not constitute an economic activity in its own right, and where any payments required to be made by the participant serve only to acquire the promoted goods or services and not to participate in the game, although it may be a condition that a person purchases the promoted goods or services in order to participate in the game; and “commercial communication g ame l i c en c e ” me a n s a l i c en c e to o p e r a t e a comme r c i a l communication game granted by the Authority to a person under article 40, and “commercial communication game licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“commercial tombola game” means any tombola game, other than a tombola game operated by a non-profit organization in terms of a non-profit game licence;

“Directorates” means such directorates as the Authority may establish under article 13;

“financial year” means any period of twelve months ending on the 31st December of any year:

Provided that the first financial year of the Authority shall commence on the coming into force of Part IV and shall end on the 31st December of the next following year;

“game” means and includes, except for the purposes of the definitions of “amusement machine” and “amusement game” in this subarticle, a game of chance and a game of chance and skill, but does not include (i) a sport event, although it includes a sport bet and any other game of chance and game of chance and skill the operation or playing of which depends on a sport event or a set of sport events or the result or outcome thereof and (ii) an amusement game;

“game of chance” means a game for money and, or prizes with a monetary value, the results of which are totally accidental;

“game of chance and skill” means a game for money and, or prizes with a monetary value, the results of which are not totally accidental but depend, to a certain extent, on the skill of the participant;

“gaming device” means any electrical, electronic or mechanical device, ticket or any other thing which is used or intended for use in connection with the operation, promotion or sale of a game and, or in gaming;

“hosting” shall mean the placing of, or the allowing, suffering or otherwise placing of, in premises accessible to the public; and the term “host” shall be construed accordingly;

“information society service” shall have the same meaning assigned to it in article 2(1) of the Electronic Commerce Act;

“inspector” means a person appointed by the Authority under article 17 to be an inspector;

“licensee” means any person holding a licence issued by the Authority under this Act;

“lottery” means any game of chance where prizes are distributed by lot or chance among participants in the game;

“means of distance communication” includes any means which may be used for the communication, transmission, conveyance and receipt of information (including information in the form of data, text, images, sound or speech) or for the conclusion of a contract between two or more persons; without the simultaneous physical presence of those persons; such means may be unaddressed or addressed printed matter, a standard letter, press advertising with an order form, a catalogue, telephone with human intervention (including phone-ins during radio and television programmes) or without human intervention (such as automatic calling machine, audiotext), radio, videophone (telephone with screen), videotext (microcomputer and television screen) with keyboard or touch screen, electronic mail, facsimile machine (fax), and television ( teleshopping ), and anyother means of communication , transmission, conveyance and receipt of information by wire, radio, optical means, electromagnetic means or by any electronic means;

“Minister” means the Minister of Finance;

“National Lottery” means generally all such games as are prescribed to form part of the Nat ional Lot tery by virtue of regulations under this Act, and the terms and conditions of which and other matters relating thereto are also prescribed by regulations or in the National Lottery licence; and “National Lottery licence” means a licence to operate the National Lottery granted under article 26(3) to a company registered in Malta, and “National Lottery licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“non-profit game” means a game organised by a non-profit organization, the net proceeds of which are intended for a religious, sports, philanthropic, cultural, educational, social or civic purpose or for any other purpose as the Minister may by order in the Gazette prescribe; and “non-profit game licence” means a licence to operate a non-prof i t game granted by the Author ity to a non-prof i t organization under article 37, and “non-profit game licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“non-profit organization” means any non-profit organization domiciled in Malta such as religious societies, band clubs, youth movements, cultural societies, literary societies, clubs promoting arts, sports clubs and sports associations, charitable societies, philanthropic societies, political party clubs and political parties, trades union, social clubs or any other association or body of persons or individual person pursuing objectives of a religious, philanthropic, cultural, educational, social or civic nature, and approved in writing as a non-profit organization by the Authority for the purposes of this Act, and in respect of which such approval has not been revoked;

“other games” means and includes non-profit games operated by non-profit game licensees, commercial tombola games operated by tombola (bingo) hall licensees, commercial communication games operated by commercial

communication game licensees, broadcasting media games operated by broadcasting media game l icensees, and racecourse bets and sweepstakes operated by racecourse betting licensees, in terms of their respective licence and under such terms and conditions as may be prescribed by virtue of regulations, or by their respective licence; and “other games licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“public officer” has the same meaning assigned to it by article 124 of the Constitution, but does not include a judge or a magistrate of the courts;

“qualifying shareholding” means a direct shareholding in a company which represents five per centum or more of the share capital issued by such company or of the voting rights attaching to such share capi tal or which makes i t possible to exercise a significant influence over the management of the company, and “qualifying shareholder” shall be construed accordingly;

“racecourse” means any ground used or intended for use for the purpose of racing with horses and, or dogs thereon;

“racecourse bet” means a bet on a horse race or races or on a dog race or races conducted on a racecourse; and “racecourse betting” shall be construed as the playing of a racecourse bet;

” racecour se bet t ing l icence” means a l icence to oper ate racecourse bets and, or sweepstakes granted by the Authority to an approved racing club or other person under ar t icle 43, and “racecourse betting licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“Racecourse Control Board” means a Racecourse Control Board appointed in respect of an approved racecourse by the Minister responsible for sport under article 46;

“racing club” means and includes a club, organisation, company or any other association or body of persons which has as its object or as one of its objects the organisation and conduct of horse races and, or dog races on a racecourse, whether such club, organisation, company, association or body is the owner of such racecourse or not, and where a racecourse is owned by an individual, it includes that individual;

“relevant gaming device” means any electrical, electronic or mechanical device which is used or intended for use in connection with the operation, promotion or sale of a game and, or in gaming;

“seasonal tombola (bingo) hall licence” means a tombola (bingo) hall licence which is issued for such effective term as provided in item 1(2) of the Second Schedule, and which is renewable for such further periods as provided in item 1(3) thereof; and “seasonal tombola (bingo) hall licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“small game” means any game wherein the aggregate retail value of all prizes which can be won in such game does not exceed the amount of two hundred and thirty-five euro (€235.00) or such lesser amount as may be prescribed in respect of small games or a specified small game or games by the relevant regulations made under article 78(2)(g);

“sport bet” means a bet on a sport event or a set of sport events and includes a racecourse bet;

“stake” means the economic value which the player of a game, or any third party on his behalf, has to commit in order for the player to participate in such game and which he can lose, wholly or in part, following the result of the game;

“sweepstake” means a game connected with a horse race or races conducted on a racecourse which is played as provided in item 1 of the Sixth Schedule;

“subsidiary” has the same meaning as is assigned to the term “subsidiary undertaking” by the Companies Act;

“tombola game” means a game of chance, also known as “bingo” in which the player uses a tombola scoresheet or a tombola scorecard or an electronic representation thereof bearing numbers, and is played by marking or covering numbers from one (1) to ninety (90), both numbers inclusive, as are identical to numbers drawn by chance, whether manually or electronically, and won by the player who first marks or covers the “line” which is achieved when, during one game, for the first time all five numbers on one horizontal row on one scorecard are drawn; or the “house” or “bingo” which is achieved when, during one game, for the first time all the fifteen numbers on one scorecard are drawn;

“tombola (bingo) hall” means such premises in respect of which a tombola (bingo) hall licence has been granted to a company registered in Malta to hold commercial tombola games therein; and ” tombola (bingo) hal l l icence” means a l icence to operate commercial tombola games in a tombola (bingo) hall granted by the Authority under article 38 to a company registered in Malta and includes a yearly tombola (bingo) hall licence and a seasonal tombola (bingo) hall licence, and “tombola (bingo) hall licensee” shall be construed accordingly;

“tombola (bingo) session” means a pre-established period of time during which a number of tombola games are held;

“tombola scorecard” means the unit of tombola game on which some of the numbers participating in such tombola game are printed or otherwise electronically represented, and by which a player may participate in such tombola game;

” tombol a s cor es he et ” means a combina t ion of tomb ol a scorecards on which all the numbers participating in a tombola game are printed or otherwise electronically represented, and by which a player participates in such tombola game;

“totalisator” means the contrivance for racecourse betting known as the totalisator of pari-mutuel, or any other device or instrument of a like nature which is used or intended for use in connection with racecourse betting, whether operated electrically, electronically, mechanically, manually or otherwise;

“yearly tombola (bingo) hall licence” means a tombola (bingo) hall licence which is issued for such effective term as provided in item 1(1) of the Second Schedule, and which is renewable for further periods of one year each as provided in item 1(3) thereof; and “yearly tombola (bingo) hall licensee” shall be construed accordingly.