The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) has recapitulated its corporate standpoint position against exposing and allowing underaged persons into gambling premises and partaking in ‘bankrolling’ activities.
MAGLA’s Director General Rachel Mijiga made the warning in the lake district of Mangochi Monday during a stakeholders’ Gaming and Lotteries Regulations Sensitization Workshop.
Said Mijiga: “We would like to reiterate that under no circumstances are you to allow underaged persons into gambling places and allow them to partake in betting proceedings.”
Mijiga stressed that children are strictly prohibited from participating in gambling activities in the country.
“It is against the law of the land for people under the age of 18 to be participating gambling activities. Anybody who allows children into gambling will be criminally liable,” she said.
The MAGLA boss emphasised that her organisation Mijiga expects stakeholders to comply with the new laws, which stipulate that anyone found allowing children into gambling spaces will be punished with an individual fine of K20 million.
Mijiga also encouraged people across the country to gamble responsibly saying: “Gambling should be taken as a leisure activity and not as an occupation for one to earn a living.”
Added Mijiga: “Gambling is addictive, therefore, people must not take it as a source of income for their daily living. That is dangerous and it can be a source of mental health problems.”
Chief Operations Officer for Betway, one of the betting operators in the country, Charles Phiri, said:
“We do not have any problems with the new regulations. We always ensure that we create a fair and competitive industry.”
Protection of children under the age of 18 from engaging in any form of gambling is one of the new regulations that have been gazetted, which MAGLA says will be seriously applied.
The Malawi Gaming and Lotteries Authority (MAGLA) (a merger from the Malawi Gaming Board & National Lotteries Board) is a statutory body established by
an Act of Parliament.
MAGLA is charged with the responsibility of licensing of Gaming and Lotteries and is entrusted with the power to regulate all gaming and lottery activities in the country and to undertake some ancillary and operational functions associated with these principal roles
“Gambling should be taken as a leisure activity and not as an occupation.”
Rachel Mijiga
MAGLA Director General
