Sarah Holland and Carla Harrison were playing bingo for a drink at a bar in Altinkum Turkey and had no idea of the misfortune that was about to befall them. The women were playing bingo with 30 other tourists when police arrived. The Turkish police singled the two women out, hustled them into a van, and took them to the local police station. Armed police forced the tourists to fill out forms identifying themselves and confiscated the bingo ball.

While the women were not arrested they were held for several hours and questioned into the wee hours of the morning over a game of bingo! Said Sarah Holland, “We thought we were on until we were hustled into a van and taken to the police station.” While they were not arrested they soon discovered that the forms they were forced to fill out were an agreement to pay a fine of approximately $97. Not only were the women terrorized for hours the police confiscated their tickets.

While only a few tourists were questioned both women said that every member of the group was extorted in a similar manner. Again from Ms Harrison, “I didn't even know it was illegal to gamble in Turkey without a license. I've even seen betting shops out here, so how would we know? "My advice to anyone else coming to Turkey is, don't play bingo”. Given the crime rate in Turkey one would think the police have more important things to do rather than harass tourists. The bottom line is simply if you come to Turkey don’t play bingo. Take your laptop and stick to online bingo!



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