The Playing Cards Act is a law in Thailand that prohibits individuals from owning more than 120 playing cards that have not been registered by the Excise Department. [1] The current law was passed in 1943, superseding previous acts. The Playing Cards Acts are part of Thailand's strict anti-gambling laws dating back to 1935. [2] To ensure legal possession of playing cards, under Section 12 of the law, a competent official has the power to enter anywhere between sunrise and sunset to conduct a search. [3]
Despite strict laws governing playing cards, Thailand has a long history of card playing. [4] To meet the demand for cards and to control their availability, under the aegis of the Excise Department of the Thai Finance Ministry, a state enterprise called the Playing Cards Factory was authorised in 1938. [5] The factory produces over 400,000 decks of cards per month. [6] A factory-produced brochure shows the card brands manufactured by the factory. [7] The Playing Cards Factory also serves as a printer for the Thai government. [8] [9]
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a finish to make handling easier. They are most commonly used for playing card games, and are also used in magic tricks, cardistry, card throwing, and card houses; cards may also be collected. Playing cards are typically palm-sized for convenient handling, and usually are sold together in a set as a deck of cards or pack of cards.
The Joker is a playing card found in most modern French-suited card decks, as an addition to the standard four suits. Since the second half of the 20th century, they have also been found in Spanish- and Italian-suited decks, excluding stripped decks.
The United States Playing Card Company is a large American producer and distributor of playing cards. It was established in 1867 as Russell, Morgan & Co. and founded in Cincinnati, Ohio in its current incarnation in 1885. Its many brands include Bicycle, Bee, Tally-Ho, Champion, Congress, Aviator, Aristocrat, Mohawk, Maverick, KEM, Hoyle and Fournier. It also produces novelty and custom playing cards, and other playing card accessories such as poker chips. For decades the company was based in Norwood, Ohio, but as of 2009, the USPC is currently headquartered in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, Kentucky.
The king is a playing card with a picture of a king displayed on it. The king is usually the highest-ranking face card. In the French version of playing cards and tarot decks, the king immediately outranks the queen. In Italian and Spanish playing cards, the king immediately outranks the knight. In German and Swiss playing cards, the king immediately outranks the Ober. In some games, the king is the highest-ranked card; in others, the Ace is higher. Aces began outranking kings around 1500 with Trappola being the earliest known game in which the aces were highest in all four suits. In the Ace-Ten family of games such as pinochle and schnapsen, both the ace and the 10 rank higher than the king.
Online poker is the game of poker played over the Internet. It has been partly responsible for a huge increase in the number of poker players worldwide. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2005, while a survey carried out by DrKW and Global Betting and Gaming Consultants asserted online poker revenues in 2004 were at $1.4 billion. In a testimony before the United States Senate regarding Internet Gaming, Grant Eve, a Certified Public Accountant representing the US Accounting Firm Joseph Eve, Certified Public Accountants, estimated that one in every four dollars gambled is gambled online.
De La Rue plc is a British company headquartered in Basingstoke, England, that produces secure digital and physical solutions to protect goods, trade and identities in 140 countries. It sells to governments, central banks and businesses. Its Authentication division provides Government Revenue Solutions, Brand Protection and ID Security Solutions, such as polycarbonate data pages for passports. Its Currency division designs and produces banknotes, secure polymer substrate and banknote security features. This includes security holograms, security threads and security printed products for central banks and currency issuing authorities. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. It is the world's largest commercial printer of banknotes.
Pornography laws by region vary throughout the world. The production and distribution of pornographic films are both activities that are lawful in many, but by no means in all countries so long as the pornography features performers aged above a certain age, usually 18 years. Further restrictions are often placed on such material.
Spanish-suited playing cards or Spanish-suited cards have four suits, and a deck is usually made up of 40 or 48 cards. It is categorized as a Latin-suited deck and has strong similarities with the Portuguese-suited deck, Italian-suited deck and some to the French deck. Spanish-suited cards are used in Spain, southern Italy, parts of France, Hispanic America, North Africa, and the Philippines.
A warrant card is proof of identification and authority carried by police officers and some other law enforcement officers including immigration officers and Approved Mental Health Professionals. The term is normally used only within the United Kingdom and in current and former Commonwealth countries. Many other countries refer to their equivalent of warrant cards simply as police credentials, commission books, or identification cards. In the UK MI5 officers also have warrant cards. Specially trained mental health practitioners called Approved Mental Health Professional are also warranted council officers and carry warrant cards when acting under the Mental Health Act 1983.
Minchiate is an early 16th-century card game, originating in Florence, Italy. It is no longer widely played. Minchiate can also refer to the special deck of 97 playing cards used in the game. The deck is closely related to the tarot cards, but contains an expanded suit of trumps. The game was similar to but more complex than tarocchi. The minchiate represents a Florentine variant on the original game.
In the United States, gambling is subject to a variety of legal restrictions. In 2008, gambling activities generated gross revenues of $92.27 billion in the United States.
An excise, or excise tax, is any duty on manufactured goods that is normally levied at the moment of manufacture for internal consumption rather than at sale. Excises are often associated with customs duties, which are levied on pre-existing goods when they cross a designated border in a specific direction; customs are levied on goods that become taxable items at the border, while excise is levied on goods that came into existence inland.
The Bourgeois Tarot deck is a mid-19th century pattern of tarot cards of German origin that is still used for playing card games today in western Europe and Canada. It is not designed for divinatory purposes. This deck is most commonly found in France, Belgian Wallonia, Swiss Romandy and Canadian Québec for playing French Tarot; in southwest Germany for playing Cego and Dreierles; and in Denmark for Danish Tarok.
The Tarocco Piemontese is a type of tarot deck of Italian origin. It is the most common tarot playing set in northern Italy, much more common than the Tarocco Bolognese. The most popular Piedmontese tarot games are Scarto, Mitigati, Chiamare il Re, and Partita which are played in Pinerolo and Turin. This deck is considered part of Piedmontese culture and appeared in the 2006 Winter Olympics closing ceremony held in Turin. As this was the standard tarot pack of the Kingdom of Sardinia, it was also formerly used in Savoy and Nice before their annexation by France. Additionally, it was used as an alternative to the Tarocco Siciliano in Calatafimi-Segesta, Sicily. Outside of Italy, it is used by a small number of players in Ticino, Switzerland and was used by Italian Argentines.
Edge sorting is a technique used in advantage gambling where a player determines whether a face-down playing card is likely to be low or high at casino table games by observing, learning, and exploiting subtle unintentional differences on the backs of the cards being dealt.
French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of trèfles, carreaux, cœurs, and piques. Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. In a standard 52-card deck these are the valet, the dame, and the roi (king). In addition, in Tarot packs, there is a cavalier (cavalier) ranking between the queen and the jack. Aside from these aspects, decks can include a wide variety of regional and national patterns, which often have different deck sizes. In comparison to Spanish, Italian, German, and Swiss playing cards, French cards are the most widespread due to the geopolitical, commercial, and cultural influence of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries. Other reasons for their popularity were the simplicity of the suit insignia, which simplifies mass production, and the popularity of whist and contract bridge. The English pattern of French-suited cards is so widespread that it is also known as the International or Anglo-American pattern.
Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of California include cardrooms, Indian casinos, the California State Lottery, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, and charitable gaming. Commercial casino-style gaming is prohibited.
As of 2019, the automotive industry in Thailand is the largest in Southeast Asia and the 10th largest in the world. The Thai industry has an annual output of more than two million vehicles, more than countries such as Belgium, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, Czech Republic and Turkey.
Gambling is subject to heavy restrictions under Pakistani law, with certain exceptions.
Portuguese-suited playing cards or Portuguese-suited cards are a nearly extinct suit-system of playing cards that survive in a few towns in Sicily and Japan. Although not of Portuguese origin, they were named after the country because Portugal was the last European nation to use them on a large basis. They are very similar to Spanish-suited playing cards in that they use the Latin-suit system of cups, swords, coins and clubs. However, this system featured straight swords and knobbly clubs like the Spanish suits but intersected them like the northern Italian suits. The Aces featured dragons and the knaves were all distinctly female.