helene_t Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 A 50-officer strong police team raids a bridge club after having been given a hint that there are people there who exceed the maximum number of playing cards (100) which you are allowed to possess in Thailand. Watch out, udcadenny and other Thai bridge players. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/892149-british-led-card-room-raided-by-officials-in-south-pattaya/?utm_source=newsletter-20160204-0723&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 I read that too. Makes me consider removing Thailand from my list of potential vacation spots. You can be arrested for having more than 120 cards? Some of my custom games have more cards than that - will Ticket to Ride land me in the slammer? And I don't want to think about what I might be charged with for carrying a backgammon set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vampyr Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 Do the Thai authorities still believe that playing cards are the Devil's tramtickets, then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 Yeah, they apparently have very archaic laws that equate almost all card playing to gambling. From http://www.onlinebetting.com/legal/thailand/The primary law that regulates gambling in Thailand is the Gambling Act, B.E. 2478 (1935). If you click that link you will see there are 46 ministerial regulations, 16 legal opinions of Council of State and a Royal Decree all related to this law. There are also many separate laws relating to gambling. One example is the Playing Cards Act, B.E. 2486 (1943) which makes owning, manufacturing and selling playing cards a crime. Furthermore, the Anti-Money Laundering Act, B.E. 2542 (1999) strengthens our anti-gambling law in certain cases. He goes on to say that despite this, around 70% of Thai people are regular gamblers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wank Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 i was wondering where TheHog had disappeared to. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanoff Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 How many police officers does it take to arrest a pack of cards ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilkaz Posted February 4, 2016 Report Share Posted February 4, 2016 Hard to believe that it really is the 21st century. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted February 5, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 Apparently the policie officers have some personal interests in arresting relatively well-oof foreigners who have the money to pay the bribes. Or it may be a relatively easy way to meet their quota for crackdowns on gambling.Sorry this was silly facebook rumours. Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
campboy Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 How many police officers does it take to arrest a pack of cards ?"All persons more than a mile high to leave the court." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barmar Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 One of the affected players has posted an article about his ordeal on Bridge Winners. http://bridgewinners.com/article/view/confessions-of-a-bridge-criminal/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggwhiz Posted February 5, 2016 Report Share Posted February 5, 2016 One of the affected players has posted an article about his ordeal on Bridge Winners. http://bridgewinners.com/article/view/confessions-of-a-bridge-criminal/ And it's a very entertaining read. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oryctolagi Posted February 6, 2016 Report Share Posted February 6, 2016 As is the video ... looks like one of the cops has had a few too many green curries, there... Seriously, what are the risks of this sort of thing happening, when visiting one of these far-off places? Mrs O and I are off to Indonesia in a few weeks' time. Not to play bridge - still you've got us worried... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagles123 Posted February 7, 2016 Report Share Posted February 7, 2016 My partner gave me the wrong response to b.ackwood the other day so I'd like him to be arrested... Any Thai police about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted February 7, 2016 Report Share Posted February 7, 2016 Actually, reading Avon's article, it does sound like a shakedown to me. Licenses, permits, tax stamps, bail, fines. That is, up until someone important showed up to advocate for the targets, at which point the situation changed dramatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1eyedjack Posted February 7, 2016 Report Share Posted February 7, 2016 So what is the excise duty to stamp a pack of cards in Thailand? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fluffy Posted February 7, 2016 Report Share Posted February 7, 2016 I know little about Asian countries, but my understanding is that gambling is a serious problem for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trinidad Posted February 8, 2016 Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 We may laugh about this as silly Thai stuff. However, I remember that the exact same thing happened in the USA only about 20 years ago. IIRC, the story was described in the ACBL bulletin. During the police raid score cards and pencils were confiscated. Rik Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
helene_t Posted February 8, 2016 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 We may laugh about this as silly Thai stuff. However, I remember that the exact same thing happened in the USA only about 20 years ago. IIRC, the story was described in the ACBL bulletin. During the police raid score cards and pencils were confiscated. RikI found a 1972 reference from Canada: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19720901&id=EYs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=fqEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4099,487144&hl=en Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1eyedjack Posted February 8, 2016 Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 Heh. Duplicate bridge may not be "gambling", but I seldom play in a duplicate event without some side wagers with friends. I still remember the shock on my lol opponent's face when I missed a difficult end position and muttered, "damn, that's just cost me £25". Better be careful from now on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggwhiz Posted February 8, 2016 Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 I found a 1972 reference from Canada: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1946&dat=19720901&id=EYs0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=fqEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4099,487144&hl=en Many moons ago a Toronto club was facing a gaming house charge (there was rubber bridge for reasonable stakes going on) and Eric Murray defended them in court. He told the judge: Bridge is a game of skill the way I play it but a game of luck the way YOU do. They lost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zelandakh Posted February 8, 2016 Report Share Posted February 8, 2016 Heh. Duplicate bridge may not be "gambling"Is it not? When I first wanted to play bridge I asked around the local clubs but all of them were only playing "penny a hundred" games. I certainly considered that gambling and declined on principle - I still think it ought to be against the law for a minor to play in such games. My university partner also liked such side bets during a game but those were always done strictly between him and the opps - he essentially paid or received double. With duplicate there is a difference of course, in as much as there is a fixed table fee and you usually cannot win or lose more based on the results. But a tournament with cash prizes is surely just as much gambling as poker, a mix of luck and skill in which you sometimes win money and other times lose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billw55 Posted February 9, 2016 Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 Working at a pool hall in college, I often reflected on the gambling laws. If two people got together to play pool, each put up some money, and the winner got it, that was gambling and illegal. But if a bunch of people got together to play pool, everyone put up some money, and the guy who won the most got it, now it's called a tournament and was perfectly ok. The same was true for chess; it had nothing to do with chance or skill, or any other reason we could fathom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackshoe Posted February 9, 2016 Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 The law is an ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wank Posted February 9, 2016 Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 i wonder if those people who whine about gambling also buy insurance 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1eyedjack Posted February 9, 2016 Report Share Posted February 9, 2016 I wonder how much it would cost the WBF for Thailand to host the BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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