Mario Galea, the recently appointed non-executive chairman of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority, is a consultant to the New Jersey gaming regulator and owns a consultancy company involved in the sector, Times of Malta has learnt.

When contacted, Mr Galea denied any conflict of interest and said the Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth, Edward Zammit Lewis, who appointed him to the role, found no objection to his private interests in the gaming industry.

In 2008, after serving as the authority’s CEO for a number of years, Mr Galea resigned his post a few months before his contract was up for renewal, citing health reasons.

No one can expect me to stop working in the gaming industry

Questions had been asked about his potential conflict of interest as the former owner of Bellmed, a service provider company to the iGaming industry.

Though he had divested his interests when appointed CEO, questions had even been raised by the Labour Opposition at the time.

In 2010, then Labour spokesman on financial services, Josè Herrera, had singled out Mr Galea in Parliament accusing him of rampant nepotism and conflicts of interest.

Dr Herrera had said that “he had been involved directly in the industry while still serving in his official post” and that “there was no problem with getting betting licences (in Malta) as long as one went through the company Bellmed”.

Dr Herrera is today Parliamentary Secretary for Culture and Local Government.

Times of Malta confirmed that, a few days ago, Mr Galea was hired by the New Jersey Gambling Authority to help it “launch online gambling” before the end of the year.

David Rebuck, director of New Jersey’s division of gaming enforcement, described Mr Galea in a press statement as an internet gambling consultant with more than “300 operators licensed under his oversight”.

Contacted at his US office in California, Mr Galea said that although he was a consultant and actively involved in the international gaming industry he did not have any conflict of interest in his role as Malta’s LGA chairman.

“I am the owner of Random Consultancy, a gaming consultancy company and I am involved in iGaming consulting, mainly regulators.

“I spend only three days a month in Malta and have no business there anymore,” he said.

Mr Galea said he had been working for foreign clients for the past two-and-a-half years.

“No one can expect me to stop working in the gaming industry just because I was appointed as a non-executive chairman at the LGA. I told the minister about this and he didn’t object,” he said.

The Government also appointed lawyer Rachel Tua on the LGA board.

According to sources, Dr Tua had been employed in Mr Galea’s private business.

Asked about this connection, Mr Galea said Dr Tua, Labour’s equality officer, was his former student and worked for him for a short period.

Questions sent to Dr Zammit Lewis and Dr Herrera remained unanswered by the time of writing.