Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1061063
NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 12 DECEMBER 2018 8 DAVID HUDSON THIS year Maltco could make a new millionaire for Christ- mas. But, apparently, Christmas time does not affect the num- ber of Super 5 tickets sold. That's what Maltco Lotter- ies told MaltaToday. Sales and Marketing Director, Da- vid Anthony Gatt, said that jackpots during this season are usually similar to other months throughout the year. With one exception. "The highest Super 5 jack- pot ever won was in Decem- ber 2014, which had a value of €1.5 million," Gatt said. The figure was never this high before but it's getting close this time around. This week's jackpot is €1.18 million and it could be won tonight, an early Christmas present. Do you think you're lucky? Gatt explained how when a particular jackpot is high, more people are likely to par- ticipate. "It's very normal for more people to try their luck when a particular jack-pot is high," he said. So if more tickets are sold during this Christmas season, it's likely to have nothing to do with the season, but more to do with the size of the poten- tial winnings. In 2013, the December jack- pot was at €350,000. In the 2015, it was even lower than that. In the 2016 and 2017, it was close to €500,000. This December, however, could prove a repeat of the 2014 win with one lucky participant going home with €1.5 million just in time for Christmas. MaltaToday spoke to a few lotto booths in the Birkirkara area and asked the owners about the correlation between a high jackpot and ticket buy- ers. 'You bet,' one of them said. 'Once the jackpot hits a mil- lion, you see someone come in here with a bigger bet than usual. They're the usual pa- trons but we do see some new faces from time to time when the potential winning is a large sum.' The lotto booth owner smiles and says that he hasn't seen me before, while tempting me into buying a ticket. Why not? I might be a mil- lionaire tonight. Maltco Lotteries is certified in Responsible Gaming by both the European Lotteries and the World Lottery Asso- ciation. KURT SANSONE THE Security Service had early on in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder in- vestigation zoomed in on a suspect already known to it for other criminal acts. The information comes from the annual report cov- ering the work done by the Security Service in 2017, which was tabled in Parlia- ment by the Prime Minister. The 13-page report con- tains a brief section dedi- cated to the Caruana Galizia murder that happened on 16 October 2017. The report says that just after the murder, the Secu- rity Service had immediate- ly set up a dedicated team of agents with the sole objec- tive of collecting and ana- lysing intelligence on the high-profile case. "From the initial analysis and first efforts it appeared that a person already known to the Security Service for other criminal acts, could have potentially been in- volved in the Caruana Gali- zia case," the report says. Further investigations confirmed the informa- tion and after a few weeks of monitoring, the secret service identified two other persons who could have been involved in the mur- der. Other people, who could have assisted in the murder were also identified. Coordination with the po- lice and foreign agents who were assisting in the investi- gation helped investigators piece together the move- ments of the suspects before and after the murder. The report does not men- tion names and is sparse on detail. But it does indicate that the decision to carry out the raid on the potato shed in Marsa was taken in the early hours of 4 Decem- ber 2017. A couple of hours later, a joint police, army and secu- rity services raid led to the arrest of 10 men, including the three who were eventu- ally charged with planting the bomb and detonating it. In court, it had emerged that the Security Service had been tapping the phone of one of the murder suspects before Caruana Galizia's assassination. The tapping formed part of a separate ongoing investigation. The revelation in court prompted Jason Azzopardi, the lawyer representing the Caruana Galizia family in court, to ask whether the se- curity forces knew of plans to eliminate the journalist but did nothing to stop the assassination. The Security Service and the police denied the accu- sation. The annual report says that the dedicated team of agents focusing on the Caruana Galizia murder is still operational today. "The team is still working on the case and is commit- ted to follow any informa- tion that could lead to other people who were involved in this barbaric act," the re- port says. The rest of the report is a general overview of the work conducted by the Security Service in 2017, which was especially chal- lenging because of Malta's EU presidency. The Security Service dedi- cates a lot of its resources to collect intelligence on drug trafficking operations and the report flags the Malta- Sicily ferry service as a prin- ciple point of entry for can- nabis. Instability in Libya is in- dicated as a worrying fac- tor, especially the impact this has in terms of criminal groups engaged in arms, fu- el and people smuggling. The report says the Secu- rity Service has no infor- mation of people or groups capable of, or with the intention of carrying out terrorist attacks in Malta. However, the secret ser- vice will remain vigilant and observe developments, while cooperating with for- eign counterparts in the ex- change of information. Security Service zoomed in early on one of the Caruana Galizia murder suspects A new millionaire this Christmas?