Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1226904
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 29 MARCH 2020 CORONAVIRUS CRISIS MASSIMO COSTA A gambling addiction helpline for Maltese and English-speak- ing gamblers is experiencing a rise in the number of calls for assistance, as more people are forced to stay indoors due to the coronavirus pandemic. The helpline was set up in mid-February this year – a month before Malta registered its first COVID-19 case – by Gluecksfall, an association which focuses on protecting gamblers from the dangers of addiction. Gluecksfall consultant and social worker Melissa McEl- hatton told MaltaToday that, with casinos closed following government measures aimed at curbing the spread of the virus, online gaming sites were be- coming more popular. "With the closure of land- based casinos, we are already seeing a spike in registrations for online gambling websites. With the current campaigns for people to stay home, individuals are getting bored at inside and they look to the internet for en- tertainment," McElhatton said. "This is not in itself problem- atic – the issue lies with the cur- rent tension and anxiety which is palpable in society, which then increases the risk of problematic gambling." She said the helpline, run by professionals to provide prob- lematic gamblers and their loved ones support, is receiving more calls from people reaching out for advice. "All crisis helplines and chat services operating locally are seeing an increase in contacts, and we are experiencing this in our service as well. We current- ly only operate once a week, but with the current demand we may need to expand our services to accommodate more people in need," she said. Gluecksfall took the decision to open a helpline for gamblers in Malta following the success of a similar service the organisation operates in Germany. "Gluecksfall's mission state- ment has always been to reduce the period of suffering for indi- viduals experiencing a gambling problem, and their loved ones. We had already set up a suc- cessful helpline in Germany, for German and Turkish speakers, and we felt that we could use this experience to launch an- other helpline in Malta, which would target Maltese and Eng- lish-speaking individuals, with operators who are warranted professionals and who also have varied experience in the field of addiction," McElhatton said. Asked whether Malta plays a part in the gambling prob- lem, due to the country's re- mote-gaming rules and its industry, McElhatton said awareness on addiction was in- creasing locally, but that more could be done to better protect players. "In Malta, we are more sensi- tised towards problematic gam- bling, which is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, there is a lot that we can still do with regards to implementing meas- ures and protocols to safeguard players. However, this is some- thing which the Malta Gaming Authority focuses heavily on and can tell us more about." Since one of the helpline's characteristics is for callers to remain anonymous, informa- tion on those contacting it can- not reach external support net- works, such as social workers. So callers are presented with an action plan during their call, to help them take the next steps in dealing with their problem. "The helpline is fully anony- mous and confidential, two of its main cornerstones… we sup- port the caller in creating a plan Spike in calls to gambling helpline Gambling addiction helpline sees rise in calls amid coronavirus indoor blues MATTHEW AGIUS THE impact of the coronavirus epidemic has been such that everybody you speak to feels that their sector is the one that was hit the hardest. That being said, one place where pick- ing up the pieces will unquestionably be a mammoth task is in the law courts and within the legal profession as a whole. With all courts closed for all but the most urgent of cases, a mounting back- log and the public being denied access to important legal remedies, the Head of Department of Criminal Law at the Uni- versity of Malta, lawyer Stefano Filletti, said he was stunned at the sheer scale of the task ahead. "This is totally utterly unprecedented," he said when contacted over the phone by MaltaToday. "Never have we had this problem in the recent history of our leg- islation." Persons who, pending criminal trial, remain under arrest must be brought be- fore court every 15 days. This term has been recently suspended by legal notice. "People who need bail, or other urgent requests to court always have the option to open the court with urgency. Depriva- tion of liberty has always been dealt with urgently by our courts." But not so in civil matters. People who currently need to file an injunction need to open the registry with urgency and additional cost, while persons served with garnishee orders and eviction or- ders right before the courts closed down find themselves unable to present coun- ter warrants until the court opens – and at the moment it is closed indefinitely. "People go to court because they need to go to court, either to collect a debt or a solve a problem with property and so on. Court becomes a necessity. There is now a problem of access to this. Things like district sittings, family sittings have all stopped and so whoever wants to play the fool [and abuse court decrees] can play the fool." When the court is reopened, all the cases need to be slotted which will fur- ther push back deadlines by two or three months. Lawyer Franco Debono raised other questions when contacted by MaltaTo- day. "If you have a person waiting for bail, does the 20-month limit continue to run? You'd get the Attorney Gener- al saying that he didn't have the full 20 months to issue the bill of indictment, as the court was closed for a number of months." This was an issue left unresolved by the recent legal notices issued by the government. Legal notices 61/2020 and 65/2020 ordered the closure of the Courts of Justice and therefore every civ- il, constitutional and criminal case has been postponed, explained Debono. FIlletti said the situation, which saw all litigation practitioners currently end up without work, could have been handled better. "Lawyers have been relegated to remote working. Purely litigation law- yers have basically gone to zero work. They can only see what pending work they have and prepare for it. "There are certain procedures which should have kept on going and there is no objective reason for a total stop. In the case of warrants, garnishees, we can work remotely, settle amounts and file submissions remotely. A judge and a lawyer could be connected by Skype for bail. Doctors carry out life and death consultations via Skype; why can't we do a piffling bail sitting? "Most requests for bail and changes to bail conditions are done by application, in most cases it is heard without plead- ing or a hearing. Why can't we agree to dispense with the hearing and have bail Court closures leave litigants ripe for abuse