Turkey Detains 59 in TRY7B Illegal Betting Account Probe

The Interior Ministry announced the operation on October 11. The raids were coordinated from Osmaniye and took place in Gaziantep, Mersin, Adana, Manisa, Kayseri, Kahramanmaraş and Antalya as well, according to Anadolu Agency’s report of the ministry statement.

Betting Sites and Money Transfers Under Investigation

Osmaniye gendarmerie units worked with the national departments responsible for organised crime and cybercrime, the financial intelligence agency MASAK and the Düziçi Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Investigators suspect the group of operating illegal betting websites, arranging related money transfers and moving proceeds from the alleged activity into the financial system. No betting brands or payment providers were identified in the announcement.

TRY7B Found in Account Movements

The financial figure covers transactions recorded in accounts linked to the suspects. The ministry did not specify the period examined or say how much of the activity represented betting stakes, transfers between accounts or other payments.

Account movements are not the same as illegal betting revenue. Nor did officials say that TRY7 billion had been seized. Using the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey’s October 9 indicative selling rate of TRY49.216 per US dollar, the total works out to approximately $142.2 million.

This is a separate investigation from the Kırklareli-led case reported by 15M in September. That earlier operation involved 24 suspects in seven provinces and TRY2.155 billion of account movements. The two announcements do not indicate a connection between the groups.

Restrictions Placed on 72 Assets

The latest raids also led to precautionary measures covering 11 properties and 61 movable assets belonging to suspects. Officials put their combined value at TRY110 million, or around $2.2 million at the same exchange rate.

That valuation is equivalent to about 1.57% of the TRY7 billion recorded in account activity. The comparison is between two different measures: an estimated value of restricted assets and a total of movements through accounts over an unspecified period. It is not a recovery rate.

The ministry gave no breakdown of the movable assets and did not report any convictions or final confiscation orders.