Online gambling
has no leg in Turkey
Online gambling has no chance in Turkey, industry
observers are definite, considering the latest boom of
censorship in the country. Over 500 big Turkish websites closed
today as a form of protest against the increasing censorship of
the Internet by the local government, which leads many to
believe that the country, which is still attempting to join the
European Union, is no soil for online gambling growth.
Here would be a good place to remind our
readers that the Turkish government shut down access to the
popular video sharing website YouTube after discovering videos
with content deemed offensive to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder
and first President of the Republic of Turkey. According to some
reports, the government has blocked access to a total of 853
international websites.
As far as online gambling is concerned,
most prominent was the arrest of two employees of the online
sports betting website Sportingbet earlier this year, who were
booked in Turkey during their vacation, as part of the
government's crackdown on Superbahis, Sportingbet's
Turkish-facing online betting business. According to reports
some 37 people working for the company's Turkish office have
also been detained. Turkey passed laws in February banning
"unauthorized" companies from offering gambling services to
Turkish citizens, a move viewed as protectionism of the local
sports betting market. Currently only a few online casinos
remain serving the Turkish market, but without any presence in
the country as a form of precaution against prosecution.
Published on
08/23/2008
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