Turkey Censored

August 28, 2008

If you want to participate in online gambling in any way, run your own site, etc. you may want to consider moving somewhere other than Turkey. The government there has made it very clear that they will not tolerate online gambling in any form, and if you market it to their residents they will get you for it eventually.

Case in point: just a few months ago two of the employees from SportingBet were arrested in Turkey for being a part of the organization that offered online gambling to their residents. They were taken to jail while there on vacation. Not only that, but because they had an office in Turkey, their 37 employees were also detained.

The country passed laws last February banning any unauthorized company from offering online gambling services to Turkish residents. This of course was viewed as protectionism of the local sports betting market and was frowned upon by many.

There are a couple of online gambling firms in the Turkish market, but they are run under governmental law. Outsiders will find it impossible to break in there. As the country has been trying to join the European Union, this will not make that process any easier for them.

The government wants to join, but has let it be very clear that if you do, you can forget about becoming part of the online gambling community there. With all of the other kinds of censorship going on in the country it is a wonder that it exists at all.
 

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