The Malawi Gaming Board has destroyed unlicensed gaming machines valued at K6.5 million.
The board burned the machines in Mzuzu yesterday.
Ofwa Alide who is the board’s Director of Legal Affairs and Company Secretary said the machines were seized because they were not properly licensed.
“We are destroying these machines because the owners installed them without any license from us as required by the law,” Alide said.
Alide added that the machines were installed in entertainment places in the city and were confiscated in August last year during a joint operation between the police and the board.
According to Alide, two Tanzanian nationals were arrested during the operation and they named a man called Moses as the owner of the machines. Police, however, were not able to arrest Moses.
Superintendent Solomon Gomezgani Mchawi, in charge Prosecutions Registry at National Police Headquarters in Lilongwe, said the suspects were released on bail but did not show up for trial.
This forced the police to apply to the Mzuzu Magistrate Court to have the machines destroyed.
“According to the Gaming Act, the person who brought the machine has a case to answer just as the owners of the places where these machines were installed,” Mchawi said.
