Finance parliamentary secretary Tonio Fenech gave a guarantee that an order given on 3 July to Maltco, the lotto games operator, to adjust its lotto prize fund will have to be honoured.

Mr Fenech gave his word to representatives of the Lotto Receivers’ Union and the General Workers’ Union, pointing out that he had given instructions on 3 July to the executive head of the Gaming Authority. The order, he emphasised had to come into effect with the changes made.

The unions believe that changes introduced to the lotto game from last weekend could harm the game with the public. The UHM and the Lotto Receivers’ Union had registered an industrial dispute with Maltco over the matter, saying that Maltco had obtained the right to reduce the prize fund so that when prizes won exceeded that fund, a punter could be paid less than he would have been entitled to with his win.

In a statement by the unions, it is said that under the changes ordered Maltco has to adjust the prizes fund in case the winnings for a particular week are very low. This means that the winning player is entitled to an increase in the established prize if the winnings are less than 30 per cent of the amount played that particular week.

It was not clear from the statement whether Maltco had in fact failed to observe the instructions given on 3 July, when the changes came into effect last weekend.