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flight of fancy
dartboards confiscated in pattaya in licencing confusion
•The• bizarre news this week coming out of Pattaya that some bars there had their dartboards confiscated thailand
by the authorities has left most people scratching their heads in bemusement. The raids were apparently carried out last week by the Provincial authority with support from the police, with the bar owners being told that it was being done because the establishments did not have a licence to allow the playing of darts, despite the additional facts that darts is not listed in any legislation, that the bars had never been informed of any licence requirement, and that they were also told, when asking how they could get this licence, that there isn’t one! While this does appear to be a problem local to Pattaya, it is reminiscent of ‘raids’ carried out in Hua Hin some years ago regarding music licences, and also brings to mind the equally bizarre arrest of around sixty elderly expats playing bridge in Pattaya in 2016, where an apparently archaic law regarding how many playing cards are allowed to be in one place had been transgressed (or, depending on the report, cards were being used that did not have the proper stamp on them). Various sources are quoting the 1935 Gambling Act for this latest series of raids, despite the fact that darts is not specifically named , although possibly covered by the description “Tossing of coins or any object in any kind of container”. The Thailand Darts Association has referred to this Act, and announced the suspension of all Pattaya darts leagues until the situation is resolved, but it must be stressed that at press time, only Pattaya is affected. It has to be hoped that firstly a resolution is found, and secondly that this kind of unwarranted harrassment does not occur anywhere else, as it is not only ridiculous but also causing further damage to Thailand’s image in the world, with the subsequent inevitable knock-on effect to tourism.