A PUB landlady from York has been fined £595 and given a suspended jail sentence after her bingo night was raided by police.

British bingo fans, including holidaymakers, were arrested in the swoop on the Yorkshire Tavern in Albufeira, in the Algarve in Portugal - even though the prize was only biscuits and chocolate.

Portugal’s strict gambling laws mean a Government licence is needed for bingo nights and raffles, and the bar was reportedly staked out by plain-clothes police in the weeks before the raid.

Landlady Marianne Pittaway, 34, who lived in Clifton for 16 years before emigrating in 2006, told The Press the arrest of about 30 customers was “absolutely ludicrous”.

Marianne, who worked at Boots in York and now runs the bar with her partner Antonio Cardoso, was today fined 700 Euros (£595) and given a suspended four-month prison sentence. Many of the others arrested were also fined.

Speaking to The Press ahead of the court hearing, she said: “We know the laws on gambling for money in Portugal, but no profit was being made from our bingo nights - all the proceeds went into buying prizes for the following week’s game and buying the bingo cards.

“All we were doing was providing entertainment for people. We understand officers had come into the bar during previous games and not said anything - they could easily have given us a warning."

She said she had been told the fine could have been as high as £30,000.

“This will mean every authority in Portugal will be inspecting our bar and that could be pretty bad for us," she said.

"Five of the tourists who were arrested have already returned home - the worst thing about all this is that it happened to them while they were on holiday - and three people taken away by police were not even playing bingo, but had just come in to watch a rugby match on television.”

Marianne said equipment such as the bingo machine, microphones and speakers had been confiscated following the raid, although the bar had been allowed to stay open, saying: “We have a brilliant expat community, and this is the first time we have had ever had any trouble with the authorities at all.”

Portuguese police had told local media the operation was part of ongoing police action to tackle illegal gambling in the Algarve, and those arrested were taking part in a game of “luck and chance”.