TALK about shooting yourself in the foot, the local government has scored a real own goal when it ordered police to raid a series of Old Age Pensioners homes over illegal bingo!
The person who ordered the raids has since resigned but the damage has been done. I would not call 10-cent-a-card bingo illegal gambling especially in OAP homes. The fact that the police raided the homes as if they were on the lookout for kidnappers or hardened criminals makes the matter worse.
However, this issue highlights a problem which is very evident in Spain. It could be argued that 10-cent-a-card bingo is gambling so instead of ordering police raids then perhaps the local government should make the legislation clear. I am sure that if the directors of the homes realised that they were breaking the law then they would not have allowed the gambling to take place in the first place. The Balearic government should ensure that they introduce clear guidelines. Like so many other issues in Majorca at the moment the legislation is simply not clear and it just leads to further problems. In this case the government ended up red faced and they had no option but to stage a spectacular U-turn. Let's hope they are forced to do the same on other issues.
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