Turkish Authorities Investigate Online Gambling

Published: Friday, July 29, 2005 Online-Casinos.com

TURKISH AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE ONLINE GAMBLING

Opposition party politicians quiz government

The Turkish politicians were at loggerheads again this week over the question of enforcement of the law concerning online gambling.

Turkish media reports claim that the authorities are experiencing enforcement problems due to the offshore nature of some thirty Turkish language gambling websites...and the Justice and Development political opposition party is riding the government hard on the issue.

Last week opposition spokesman Ertugrul Yalcinbayir claimed that an increasing rate of virtual gambling existed in the country and submitted a list of questions to Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu.

The questions included "What means can prevent our people from gambling? What is the economic size of online and other kinds of gambling in Turkey? Does Turkey have the power to prevent online gambling? What kinds of precautions can be taken?"

Aksu said in his reply that online gambling and lotteries are illegal and therefore legal action will be taken where possible against these sites upon detection. The Ministry has issued directives to prevent online gambling and new investigations on the issue are on the way, he reported.

Aksu said that The Ministry cannot prevent online gambling sites as their roots are outside Turkey and in countries where online gambling is not illegal. However, Turkish officials would be contacting the hosting companies of these sites to demand that they are not be made available online in Turkey.