Gambling in Turkey is highly regulated. Turkey banned
casinos in 1998, and it banned non-state
online gambling in 2006. A state lottery (
Milli Piyango
''Milli'' (symbol m) is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of one thousandth (10−3). Proposed in 1793, and adopted in 1795, the prefix comes from the Latin , meaning ''one thousand'' (the Latin plural is ). Since 1960, the ...
) and betting services exists, however, and has some online gambling, and illegal gambling continues to persist.
History
Gambling horses were originally legalised in 1984, and casinos in 1990. New restrictions were introduced in September 1996, including limiting opening hours to 8 hours per day and requiring winnings to be paid by cheque.
[ These followed the July 1996 assassination of "casino king" ]Ömer Lütfü Topal
Ömer Lütfü Topal, sometimes spelled Lütfi (1942 – July 28, 1996), was a Turkish businessman, who was deeply involved in the Susurluk scandal. He had convictions for drug smuggling, and was dubbed the "casino king" for the gambling ventures ...
.[ Hurriyet Daily News, 5 September 1996]
Casino owners rise against government regulations
/ref> A law banning casinos (partly because of accusations of money-laundering) was unexpectedly announced and approved in December 1996 and (following legal action against it) took effect on 11 February 1998. However, illegal casinos continue to exist. At the time of the ban casinos were a $1bn industry employing around 20,000 people. Sudi Özkan
Sudi Özkan is a Turkish businessman known for his interests in the hotel and casino industry. He is alleged to be a billionaire. He had major operations in Turkey in the 1990s before casinos were banned there in 1998, and in 1996 was considered ...
, another "casino king" with 20 casinos, left the country for a time, and was accused of siphoning nearly $700m to Switzerland "off the books," eventually returning after making a deal with the Turkish tax authorities.
Online gambling was banned in 2006, but the measures to ban it have had limited success. In 2009 it was estimated that a quarter of Swedish firm Betsson
Betsson AB is a Swedish company that offers a number of online gambling products, such as casino, poker, bingo, sports betting and scratch cards through more than 20 online gaming brands including Betsson, Betsafe and NordicBet. Betsson AB is liste ...
's revenues came from Turkey. In 2013 the Turkish Parliament planned to increase penalties for those using online gambling as well as those enabling financial transactions in relation to online gambling.[ Hurriyet Daily News, 9 May 2013]
Turkey gears up efforts to battle illegal online betting
/ref>
Online gambling
Online gambling in Turkey is currently prohibited, with the exception of the state-owned sports betting company, IDDAA, which is the only Turkish entity that is allowed to offer internet gambling services. The law that prohibits online gambling in Turkey was passed in 2007 and recently, Turkey has also been taking measures to prevent players from using foreign internet gambling websites as well. Despite the ban on gambling, many Turkish players continue to bet on online gambling sites and are recognized as leading gamblers. In 2013 Turkish government issued the law by which Turkey has become the first country in the world to target individual players instead of gambling operators. Sanctions for anyone caught in Turkey to access online gambling services is a penalty of between £100 and £500 (about $55–278). Casino operators dealing with the Turkish market and bankers serving them can also face the prison conditions at the same time.
References
{{Gambling by country
Society of Turkey