Turkey to punish players that bet with offshore gambling sites

Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has revealed that Turkish Parliament  is to introduce severe monetary penalties for players that are willing to bet with offshore igaming web sites, that are not registered or regulated by Turkish Gambling authorities. Turkish players that wager on unlicensed igaming operators may face fines issued at up to 500,000 Turkish Lira – equivalent to €200,000.  The current legislation which is being reformed by Turkish government authorities is set to also punish igaming operators that place Turkish wagers with prison sentences.

Furthermore the new proposed legislation will also punish sportsbook agents who process sports betting wagers on behalf of regional clients on foreign off shore bookmakers, this is a common practice in Eastern European and developing regions. The Legislation will also tackle illegal non regulated marketing of igaming operators via media publishers, affiliates and aggregation websites. Promotion of igaming operators deemed illegal by Turkish authorities may be punishable with sentencing up to three years in prison. (SBC has seen the film ‘Midnight Express’ Turkish Prisons dont look nice!)

The Turkish Telecommunications Presidency (TIB) are set to be responsible for the reform of the upcoming bill and the creation of a platform to monitor Turkish player wagering. Turkish banking authorities – Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) will also have to be part of this amendment as to prohibit online debit or credit card transaction taking place on foreign igaming operator websites.

Turkey is yet to be a full EU member state, any regulation of igaming will not fall under any European competition or business regulation or fair practice provision. Government authorities for Turkey have been fighting for stricter regulation of online gambling since 2006 both at national and regional level, given Turkeys diverse cultural and Geo-political make up.