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Super 5 price hikes in breach of licence tendering agreement
Maltco’s steep increases in ticket prices, minimum lotto gambles, and reduced winning multiplies are in violation of licence tendering conditions that prohibit such changes for the first six months
16 July 2012, 12:00am
Nestor Laiviera
Nestor Laiviera
1 min read
Price hikes are in violation of licence tendering conditions.
Maltco unveiled its new price regime late last week, which will see Super 5 tickets now costing €2 instead of €1.50, while the minimum lotto gamble will double to 50c.
Lotto winning multipliers have also decreased across the board, while the manner in which calculating jackpots has also reportedly changed.
The price hikes however violate one of the conditions stipulated in the licence tendering contract agreement, which lays down that the prices or system governing the betting cannot be changed for the first six months of the licence's duration.
Given how the licence officially began as from 5 July, the prices were to remain fixed until 5 January, 2013.
Questions sent to the Finance Ministry to inquire whether it was aware of the breach of licence tendering agreement conditions, as well as whether any action will be taken against Maltco, remained un-answered by the time of publishing.
The price hike has however been reportedly defended by the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, which said that the proposals on Super 5 were provided by Maltco "at the outset."
An LGA spokesperson said that Maltco's proposals "were approved by the LGA has they did not impinge on the fairness of the game and on other gaming regularity considerations."
Earlier during 2012, Maltco renewed the licence to operate the national lottery, which it was first granted in 2004 for seven years.
It successful beat a €36.2 million bid by competing company GTech, a subsidiary of Lottomatica, with an offer which government said amounted to €39.1 million.
The new licence will last for 10 years and commenced on 5 July.
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I have no problem with the price of the ticket- I win EVERY week.
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Mela hekk sew, l-ewwel il-Gvern qal li mhux ser jerga jgedded il-licenzja lill Griegi....wara dawn bdew inaqqsu ir-rebh gieli b'aktar minn nofs u hekk kif kien hemm interess minn kumpanija b'magoranza ta' Maltin dawn il-Griegi thallew jitfaw it-tender, fil-fatt huma (il-Griegi) kienu l-aktar bi kwazi miljun euro aktar u l-kuntratt rega gie mghoti lill Griegi. (Mela ghaliex il-Gvern kien qal publikament li ma kienx ser jerga jikkonsidra lill Griegi!!!!!) Hekk titlob id-demokrazija dak li jitfa l-akjtar offerta jiehu il-premju. Issa wara dan kollu l-Griegi bdew jattakaw biex igibu dak li offrew billi wahhlu kuntratt lill banek tal-lottu u issa sparaw il-prezzijiet.Issa naraw fejn ser naslu l-aqwa li ergajna kellna U TURN bhall hafna U turns ohra.....l-aqwa li l-poplu mhux beccun
Paul Sammut •
OMG, never comes a day without some reporter catching the administration with its shorts down. Surely, something must be basically wrong with this country.
LGA says that Maltco's proposals "did not impinge on the fairness of the game and on other gaming regularity considerations." LGA must come clean and just say if contracts were breached and not what it considers fair or not fair. Contracts are legally binding and have nothing to do with fairness but about agreements.
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I myself win always because I really dislike lotto and all games of this type, but I believe that a lot of people will go on the black gaming. LGA please note
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We sold everything bic-cekcik......bhal MID MED
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What's 10% of € 39 millions?
Luke Camilleri •
Where does this leave the local consumer dealing with such a monopoly?
Minister Jason Azzopardi , who is responsible for consumer affairs and Dr. Gonzi's Cashier Dr. Tonio Fenech should come out and issue statements IF THERE is a breach of license tendering agreement!
Or they just like the Maltese getting it the GREEK WAY????
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Another Legal form of daylight robbery. Let BOYCOTT these illegalities.
