“Turkey Wages War on Internet Gaming ”

Controversy surrounding online gambling is not new to Turkey. The Turkish parliament added new regulation for lotteries to its agenda in recent times, along with pressures to focus on gambling. Assembling a team of specialists joined by members of the Turkish Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Treasury, the government has recently announced its intentions to prevent Turkish citizens from frequenting offshore gambling sites. However legislation will not affect the gambling sites themselves since the majority of them are based outside Turkey.

In a motion put forward to Turkey’s Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu, the deputy of the Justice and Development Party (AKU) Ertugrul Yalcinbayir wrote: “Thirty gambling sites are available for the Turkish people. What is the economic size of online and other kinds of gambling in Turkey? What means do we have to prevent our people from gambling? Does Turkey have the power to prevent online gambling?”

With pressure to make offshore gambling sites inaccessible for Turkish residents, the Interior Ministry responded to Yalcinbayir’s motion reiterating the illegal nature of lotteries and online gaming sites. Aksu also responded that further directives are being implemented to combat online gambling, with the government investigating what legal measures can be brought to bear on offshore gaming operators.

Currently the Interior Ministry has conceded that there is little the Turkish government can do to close down gambling sites located outside Turkey, but that they are doing everything possible to prevent those sites being made available to Turkish residents.