During a well-attended reception organised by Maltco Lotteries Ltd for its 220 agents held on 17 March at Villa Arrigo, Dr John Katakis, Maltco’s CEO highlighted the significant difficulties that the company faced during its initial setting-up following its privatisation phase.

He said that “A lot of people thought that the project did not have any prospects and indeed, many companies which were initially interested in running the National Lottery dropped out at the early stages.

But Maltco has been a success story for the past seven year which is attributable not only to the significant initial financial investment of more than 22 million Euros made by Intralot, with its long-proven gaming expertise that developed the Maltese National Lottery into “boutique lottery” but also with the continuous hard work and co-operation of all of you. If it hadn’t been for your continuous support and full co-operation, Maltco would not have turned out to be such a success story. So I would like to extend a big Thank you to all of you.” He emphasized that in a small market such as Malta, it is essential for the agents to be able to sell as wide a variety of games as possible in a responsible and well-regulated manner.

Maltco Lotteries will have contributed €120 million in taxes to Government by the end of its seventh year of operation while €6 million are estimated will have been transferred to the Good Causes Fund from unclaimed prizes during this period.

Since he was and still is fully responsible for Maltco’s overall operations, Dr. Katakis still considers the company “close to my heart”. At the end of his address, Dr. Katakis thanked once more all the agents for their hard work and the professionalism shown to their customers and augured that Maltco would continue in its operations for many more years to come.

Mario Cassar, Maltco’s General Director also addressed the agents. He emphasized that in spite of the complexity in managing its daily operations, Maltco has been able to deliver a high level standard of service in its operations also with the help of its suppliers and mother-company. Mr Cassar also commented that the company will continue to expand its portfolio of games. He said that he was happy to see the vast majority of the agents present and thanked them for their continued cooperation,