Cleared of acting as lotto receiver illegally

A Luqa man was yesterday cleared of acting as a lotto receiver without a licence after an appeal court ruled that the Magistrates` Court`s judgment was contradictory.

Kim Degabriele, 22, was originally found guilty of committing the crime at Convoy Bar, in Luqa, on May 13, 2000. He had been given a six-month jail term suspended for a year.

The Magistrates` Court had, however, cleared him of organising clandestine lotto, selling lotto tickets from an unlicensed place and possessing lotto-related objects and lotto tickets without a licence.

Mr Justice Joseph Galea Debono noted that the Magistrates` Court had cleared Degabriele of the latter four charges because it had accepted his evidence to be probable.

Degabriele had testified he did not organise the lotto himself but went to a licensed lotto receiver to buy lotto cards for clients who frequented the bar, where he worked. He did this simply as a favour to clients.

Degabriele also said he did not accept the lotto cards or invalidate them himself and neither did he hand them over to the Public Lotto Department. He did all this through a licensed lotto receiver.

The judge noted that a lotto receiver, as defined in the Public Lotto Regulations, was a person appointed by the minister to accept and invalidate lotto cards in the name of stakers and then pass them on to the Public Lotto Department.

Therefore, if the Magistrates` Court accepted Degabriele`s version as being probable it would have been logical to also clear him of charges of acting as a lotto receiver.

The judge ruled that although he did not normally disturb the Magistrates` Court`s judgment in this case there seemed to be a contradiction within the judgment.