All suspects were rounded up in a raid last week, as police acted in response to a complaint filed with an anti-corruption centre about alleged gambling.

The arrested suspects were released on Bt5,000 bail each.

Authorities have decided not to charge these suspects with gambling after several experts have come forward to explain that bridge is not a form of gambling, but an internationally-recognised game.

“But police plan to charge them for playing the games at a place that is not properly registered as a club,” Mueang Pattaya Police Station’s superintendent Pol Colonel Suktas Phumpanmuang said.