In a case of “old habits die hard,” police raiding an underground gambling den in Chiayi County’s Dongshih Township (東石) on Monday night were surprised to find that the alleged operator and 32 gamblers were all older than 60.
The suspects were taken to a local police station for questioning, and the alleged operator, surnamed Wu (吳), was yesterday charged with engaging in illegal gambling.
The other 32 were released after questioning was completed yesterday, a Chiayi Police Department spokesman said, adding that they would be charged with contravening the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法) for illegally betting money on card games.
Casual card games with friends and relatives are common during the Lunar New Year holiday, and illegal gambling dens sometimes pop up during the period, the spokesman said.
Wu reportedly told authorities that he thought policing would be lax during the holiday, so he chose a shack behind a convenience store, offering favorite old games to make a profit.
Police said that when they burst into the shack yelling: “Don’t move, this is a police raid,” many of the those inside were too frightened to move.
Some of the older suspects told police that they were playing for money to entertain themselves in line with holiday customs, while others castigated the officers for bringing bad fortune with the bust.
The spokesman said that Wu admitted to operating the Taiwanese version of two betting games, bak tsat ah (目賊仔) and tong ah (筒仔), which are less well-known among the younger generation, but are popular with older people.
In bak tsat ah, the kings, queens and jacks are taken out of a deck of poker cards. Players each receive a pair of cards with the aim of their sum equaling 10, and their hands are compared with each other and the house.
Tong ah is based on mahjong, but only tiles in the circle suite are used. Players roll dice to determine their order of play and each receive two tiles, with their different point combinations compared at the end.
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