NATIONAL Police officers are launching a thorough investigation into an alleged fraud involving bingo playing at some pensioners' clubs in the Balearics, a police spokesman said yesterday.
Inspectors say there are signs that some senior personnel at some of the clubs are making a significant profit out of the practice. The spokesman said that amounts in excess of 15'000 euros a month have come to light.
The Balearic government's Gaming department is considering bringing charges against those who have been making a profit from what is seen to be an innocent past-time for the retired, he added.
The regional ministry for the Interior wanted to make it clear yesterday that far from wanting to stop club members playing bingo, what its inspectors and investigating police were in the process of doing was to protect them - the members - from people who were profiting financially from their enjoyment of bingo.
Central Government Delegate in the Balearics, Ramon Socias had recently called for calm after a deluge of complaints from pensioners' clubs about heavy-handed National Police tactics to stop them playing bingo had reached the ears of the Interior ministry.