I am angry, in fact I'm bloody angry, how the hell dare they ....

Twenty-eight UK expats and holiday-makers have been fined after police in Portugal swooped on a bar where a game of bingo was being played for biscuits. Landlady Marianne Pittaway, from North Yorkshire, was fined 700 euros (£595) for hosting the game at The Yorkshire Tavern in Albufeira, on Friday night. Ms Pittaway, 34, also received a four-month suspended prison sentence.

And if that wasn't bad enough .....

Even some of the people in the bar who were not playing bingo were fined 150 euros (£125) and given a three-month suspended sentence for "witnessing illegal gambling".

You couldn't make it up ....

In a statement, Portuguese police, Faro GNR, said the action had been carried out following "information reported by anonymous citizens". It said officers found people were playing "games of luck and chance" outside an authorised place.

They obviously invented jobsworths.

Mind you, what would you expect from a pathetic little third world country who is Western Europe's poorest in per capita terms, has a flat-lining economy, and is now getting handouts from former colonies like Angola and Brazil, in addition to EU bailouts.

Sigh ....

Isn't this where Martin says, "Only in America"?

Ignorance of the ...
When in Rome do as ...
Or, Don't do the ...

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I am angry, in fact I'm bloody angry, how the hell dare they

Because perhaps unlike the UK they have laws and stick to them.

Mind you, what would you expect from a pathetic little third world country who is Western Europe's poorest in per capita terms, has a flat-lining economy, and is now getting handouts from former colonies like Angola and Brazil, in addition to EU bailouts.

Hmm yes you are angry, but don't know what insulting a whole country and its people has to do with arresting people breaking the law, ignorance is no excuse. However silly the law might be.

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but a 3 month suspended prison sentence for just watching, repeat just watching, people play Bingo??? Totally outrageous, and I won't accept it.

In California, it is a crime to be present at a cockfight, and the landlord can lose the property. Not much different than being caught in a house of ill repute.

The law wears a blindfold and isn't permitted to know the difference between a friendly game and an illegal casino. Think about that every time you ask for another law to protect you from some potential evil, such as the NSA snooping.

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As you say there is a whole world of difference between a friendly game and a professional casino which have to be fully licenced almost anywhere in the world. This outcome was totally disproportionate to the the activity being carried out. According to the Mail police had been staking out the bar for two weeks previously, and I would like to know who "tipped the police off", was it a local, or another disgruntled ex-pat over some minor spat?

Likely another bar owner who didn't like his competition flaunting the law and allowing an illegal casino to operate in his competitors bar and thereby "stealing" all his customers. Perhaps after the raid the cops found out the bar owner wasn't getting a cut of the "biscuits" and decided not to charge him, but by then it was too late for the players. Or perhaps the charges against the bar owner aren't "news" er, sensationalism.

Don't forget that the government department with the lowest IQ is the boots on the ground enforcement.


Reminds me of a local case from a few years ago. PO'd neighbor calls the cops. There in plain view through the picture window is a friendly poker game. Cops know it isn't bookmaking. Cops have a complaint. Crime is in plain view. They have no choice.

Justice is blind and anti-sin laws are the only sin.

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Serves them right. Shouldn't break the law. Anyway, she don't like lorry drivers & wouldn't serve me, so a quick call to the old bill solved that one. Had a meal & drink at Johnny Hooper's instead.

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