Men who organised gambling games in Dubai are fined and jailed

The three men would lure passers-by from the streets to play but would rig the games

Three men who organised a gambling game have each been sentenced to a year in prison and ordered to pay a Dh100,000 fine.

On May 1, police were patrolling Naif in Dubai at around 9pm when spotted the men luring a passer-by to a gambling game on the street.

The trio, two Pakistani men aged 25 and 48 and an Indian man aged 32, would collect between Dh100 to Dh500 in bets from people. Police seized the money when they arrested the men.

"When we checked, we found out that they were cheating and all the betters had lost their money," said a policeman, 37.
He said they seized more than Dh1,000 from the three accused and confiscated the biased playing cards the men used to con people.
"Each one of them had a specific role: one lured people, one dealt the cards, and the third claimed to be a winning player to encourage other men to participate," said the officer.
He said the man who dealt the cards would hide one up his sleeve and use it to rig the game and cheat players out of their money.

Police investigations revealed that the men had entered the UAE on visit visas.
During police questioning, the trio admitted to organising an illegal gambling game in public but at Dubai Criminal Court, they denied the charge.
They were each convicted and sentenced to a year in jail as well as fined Dh100,000.
They will be deported upon serving their prison terms.