‘You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, know when to walk away, and know when to run…’

Oslo Airport Gardermoen CustomsOslo Airport Gardermoen. Photo Norway Today Media

A gambler’s luck ran dry en route from Las Vegas after landing at Oslo airport ( Gardermoen ). He had to share a hefty wedge of a $20,000 ‘big win’ with Norwegian customs officers.

 

The 30-year-old Swedish man was stopped at a routine check by customs at Gardermoen, reported Romerikes Blad newspaper.


‘There was nothing seemingly special about him at first. But he turned green when we chose to put him through a routine control,’ Hans Wilhelmsen, acting officer at the Customs Office at Gardermoen, told the newspaper.


When they opened his suitcase, they found $20,000 in cash. The sum is equivalent to approximately 160,600 kroner.


‘He told us that he’d won the money in Las Vegas, which certainly is true. The problem was that he didn’t declare the winnings’, said Wilhelmsen.


Customs don’t know if the man was aware of the regulation of declaring his winnings, or if he tried to bluff his way through. Either way, it became an expensive affair for the newly minted gambler.


‘The fee he received was 20% of the total, 4,000 U.S. dollars’, said Wilhelmsen.


But the really hard cheese was that had the man filled out the declaration form, he would have scooted through customs without any charge at all.

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today