Gaming and betting under Maltese law with special reference to the civil code

Abstract

The urge to make some money on the quick is one of the instincts most deeply ingrained in the nature of man. After all, man was primarily not intended to work, and the idea of getting round the divine command that he must work to earn his living has an irresistible fascination of its own. From time immemorial wherever men congregated in some numbers, gaming and betting in some form or others soon made their appearance if for no other reason, as a means of recreation. Even in most primitive communities whose way of life has been scientifically studied it has invariably been found that certain games of chance are practised by the members. Nor is poverty a bar to gaming and betting, on the contrary as a rule one finds that the most assiduous and dedicated gamblers are those people who have no regular means of subsistence. It is not very infrequent to have people passing whole days at the gaming tables gambling anything they possess, very often even the money necessary for the maintenance of themselves and their families. Quite obviously of practised to a certain extent gaming and betting become very serious social evils. It if for the reason that form the very first these activities and transactions, have been looked upon with the greatest displeasure by society in general. We find very old laws which trust gambling as an evil and provide appropriate measures against it.