British Bingo Players Arrested In Portugal

Most of us think of bingo as a social game, and it’s long been played for fun and small prizes in social clubs and churches. With that in mind, most of us would think it would be ok to play a game of organised bingo in the pub, but for one bunch of British holidaymakers, what started off as fun turned into a complete nightmare.

Thirty customers, mainly Brits were arrested in a pub in Portugal this week after falling foul of the country’s strict gambling laws. The game was bingo, and the prize, a tin of biscuits and some chocolates, but that didn’t stop local police arresting every customer.

There were thirty customers in the Yorkshire Tavern in Albufeira for the game, a couple of weeks ago, and when plain clothed officers stormed the pub, each one of them was arrested. Even those not playing were arrested for ‘observing a crime’, and they were held from 11pm to approximately 3am.

Many of the holidaymakers are now stuck in Portugal waiting to appear in court, and the owners of the bar are mortified. They believed that the game was only illegal if cash was going to be handed out, but the law is much stricter than that and plain clothed police officers waited for the prizes to be handed out before swooping.

The local police has declined to comment, but this story is the perfect example of why you really must check local customs before you go away anywhere. Who knows what sort of trouble you could end up in, just for playing the oldest game in the world, and for fun at that!

We suggest if you’re in doubt, you stick to playing bingo online, or wait until you’re home to pop down to the local bingo hall!