Two visitors fined Dhs300,000 for gambling

Hamza M Sengendo, Staff Reporter

Two visitors who ran a gambling game near a Dubai hotel will spend three months in prison and pay a Dhs150,000 fine each, a jury has ruled.

The Asian defendant, 19, and colleague, 25, were caught red-handed running a gambling game at a street in Al Muteena area on the evening of Feb.25, Al Muraqqabat Police Station records showed.

Both men confessed during police questioning. Prosecutors sued them on April 9. The Dubai Criminal Court has imprisoned them, fined them and ordered they be deported after serving the punishments.

They would lay down a cloth belt on a table to form spirals and tell a participant to place a screwdriver in the spiral of his choice, pay a sum of money and predict the result. He would then pull the belt.

The participant would win the round in case the screwdriver hanged in the belt. Otherwise, the defendants would pocket that participant’s money. The street gambling happened beside the hotel.

A Yemeni policeman, 30, said a police team combing the area for lawbreakers and suspicious persons picked up both men after finding them managing the game at the public place at around 6.15pm. The defendant would collect money from those who wanted to participate and hand it to his colleague. To arrest them red-handed, I joined the gambling as a participant,” explained the policeman.

“I paid the required Dhs100 and started playing with the defendant as his colleague watched around the scene in case law enforcement officers were coming. They confessed upon arrest.”

In a similar case, on Mar.13 Al Muraqqabat Police Station personnel zeroed in on another Asian visitor as he managed a gambling game with the same method, prosecutors revealed.

He placed an ironing table on a pedestrian bridge on Omar Bin Al Khattab Road and called pedestrians to pay Dhs50 and participate. He wound a cloth belt into a circle and placed a pencil in the middle.

A participant would pay and pull the belt. In case the pencil hanged in the belt, the participant would recover the payment and receive an equivalent sum as a cash prize. This happened around 6.20pm.

He denied the charge in court on April 17. Prosecutors sought the toughest punishment. The Dubai Criminal Court has sentenced him to three months in prison and fined him Dhs100,000 plus deportation. A Yemeni officer said he and his workmate were in civilian attire when they stumbled on a crowd. The defendant was managing the game. “We arrested him and seized gambling paraphernalia. He confessed.”