The authorities were urged on Monday to consider whether gaming advertising ought to be afforded the same sensitive approach as alcohol and tobacco products.

The call was made by a magistrate as a 63-year-old former customs officer who lost everything to gambling admitted money laundering and said he wanted his situation to serve as a lesson to others.

He was jailed for three years. 

Oreste Zammit was arraigned in 2020 and accused of money laundering, misappropriation, misuse of public funds for his own private advantage, committing crimes which he was duty-bound to prevent as well as failing to pay customs duties on alcoholic beverages.

Police had explained that his cash deposits over a span of seven years or so, had totalled some €1.8 million, an amount which did not tally with his lawful income.

Zammit initially pleaded not guilty and proceedings continued.

However, earlier this month, the Attorney General and the accused’s lawyer told the court that a plea deal had been reached and that Zammit intended to register an admission.

The parties agreed on a 3-year effective jail term and a fine of €110,000.

Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech warned Zammit about the legal consequences of such an admission and gave him time to reconsider and to consult his lawyer again.

A couple of weeks later, Zammit confirmed his guilty plea.

He said he wished to send out a message about betting adverts in the hope of helping others so that they might not end up in the same predicament as him.

When delivering judgment on Monday, Magistrate Frendo Dimech after confirming the guilty plea and after considering Zammit's untainted criminal record on the one hand and the serious nature of the charges on the other, deemed that the agreed punishment of a 3-year jail term and a €110,000 fine as legitimate.

She also ordered the confiscation of all movable and immovable property of the accused in favour of the government, together with €3102.89 in court expert expenses.

The court ordered the confiscation of an additional €830,193 representing the proceeds of crime, or property representing that value. And if it remains unpaid, it’s converted to a civil debt.

The court also issued a treatment order as the accused himself requested to get help with overcoming the addiction that landed him in jail.

Betting adverts 'causing the destruction of many'

Taking on board the accused’s own message, Magistrate Frendo Dimech observed that betting adverts, particularly those aired on television and not merely during some football match, were causing the “destruction of many.”

Gambling victims, seated in the seemingly safe environment of their home watching television, were enticed and encouraged to return to bad habits, she said.

Such publicity, reaching them in the sanctuary of their home, made it all the more difficult for these persons to overcome their addiction.

It made little sense for such adverts to advise viewers to “play responsibly,” the magistrate said. 

Anyone afflicted by such an addiction needed to  steer clear rather than risk exposure resulting in the illness” spreading, went on the court, citing extensively from a 2020 report on the “effect of gambling marketing and advertising on children, young people and vulnerable adults.”

"The time is ripe to consider whether gambling ought to be afforded the same sensitive approach as alcohol and tobacco products," the magistrate said. 

Zammit had expressed a wish to be given the opportunity to help others avoid the situation he had landed himself in, and his call should be taken seriously, the magistrate added. 

The accused had declared in court that if he succeeded in saving at least one other person, then his life would have served a good purpose.

Taking up that call, the court said his personal account could serve as a lesson for those gripped by a similar addiction, as well as a “wake up call” to those in a position to limit the glittering appeal of such lawful betting adverts which could spell the “destruction of so many families.”

The accused was the “personification” of all this.

Gambling had reduced “a family man to a criminal.”  

But at the same time, Zammit was also the personification of “hope,” his rehabilitation leading to a future that was free from the scourge of gambling and hopefully, a shining light for others, concluded the court.