Bridge too far as police arrest club members for ‘playing with wrong cards’

Police are insistent that a group of mainly British expat pensioners arrested and questioned for hours over suspicions of illegal gambling did not “play their cards right”.

The 32 OAPs, including a Dutch woman aged 84, are facing court action for using “too many” as well as imported playing cards – even though the law enforcement authorities in Thailand have accepted no money was found.

And the unexpected raid by 50 officers from Pattaya Police has left Bridge club organisers fearing their ‘friendly’ gatherings may now be breaking the country’s anti-gambling laws.

The police arrested the players – including 74-year-old Jomtien and Pattaya Bridge Club president Jeremy Watson – while equipment such as computers and a logbook of the players` scores were confiscated as evidence.

No money changed hands between players but authorities found that the club`s many decks of cards broke Section 8 of the Playing Cards Act of 1935 stating that an individual is not allowed to possess more than 120 playing cards at any one time. At the Bridge event, considerably more than that number was found by officers.

The officers also revealed that there was no official government seal on the card boxes, which they added to the list of alleged offences.

The pensioners who gather at Alto’s restaurant and bar in the resort of Pattaya claim Thai cards are of such “poor quality” that they have been forced to bring packs back from trips abroad – thereby contravening the official ones which are printed by the Department of Customs and Excise, and bear a government stamp.

One thing the police did have to wait for – the players to complete the game.

Mr Watson, who has lived in Thailand since 1969, said: “We took 45 minutes to finish. The police were just wandering around. There were 40 in the room and ten downstairs in case we tried to escape.”

The OAPs, who were taken to the police station in rented buses, were finally released at 3am after paying £100 bail money and having their passports confiscated.

Chodchoy Sophonpanich, the influential president of the Contract Bridge League of Thailand, also travelled to Pattaya on Thursday (February 4) to explain the game to authorities, and how it is played as a sport, not for money.

The club is “closed temporarily while we get a new licence to have cards on the premises,” it says on its website. The notice adds: “All problems have been solved with understanding by the authorities.”

Despite the gambling claims being dropped, and most of the players being told privately that they will get their bail money and passports back, police officials insist there could be other charges.

Reports suggest that the case will be dropped eventually with some mediation. The British Embassy in Bangkok has reportedly got in touch with Pattaya police authorities after this incident.