Turkey has shut down access to 47,493 illegal betting websites and detained more than 5,600 suspects this year as authorities intensify a sweeping crackdown that now reaches deep into bank and cryptoasset networks.
Interior Ministry figures, reported by Anadolu Agency, show police and gendarmerie units have carried out 680 operations nationwide since 1 January. In those actions, 5,629 suspects were taken into custody, 3,231 were placed in pre-trial detention and a further 1,515 were put under judicial control.
Cybercrime units are monitoring the online betting ecosystem around the clock, focusing not only on unlicensed sites themselves but also on social media advertising and digital links to payment channels. Investigators are following money flows through bank accounts, electronic-money platforms and crypto wallets believed to be used to collect wagers or move criminal proceeds.
Focus on financial infrastructure
The latest nationwide totals build on a concentrated wave of operations carried out in May. Over an eight-day period, four separate raids targeted more than 670 suspects. One investigation in Adana highlighted the growing use of cryptocurrency, identifying crypto platforms among the alleged channels used to launder income from illegal betting.
Scrutiny has increasingly centred on the financial infrastructure behind the sites rather than just front-end operators. A statement issued on 5 June by the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office said seven shared crypto wallets abroad had allegedly received regular transfers from an illegal betting organisation.
Prosecutors estimated the total transaction volume running through the network at $4 billion (TL192.37 billion). They said all bank and crypto accounts linked to the suspects had been frozen as part of the investigation.
The case is being handled by the terrorism-financing and money-laundering bureau of the prosecutor’s office, working alongside the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, known as MASAK.
Allegations of fixed matches and legal betting abuse
According to investigators, the network was allegedly coordinated by a suspect identified as I.O.O. and is accused of drawing income from several sources: illegal betting operations, matches whose results were allegedly fixed in advance, and wagers channelled through Turkey’s legal betting system.
Prosecutors say the proceeds were moved through currency-exchange bureaux and jewellery businesses in the Grand Bazaar before being transferred into crypto wallets whose end-users could not be identified.
The organisation is also accused of recruiting individuals aged between 20 and 30 who had no regular income or commercial activity. These recruits allegedly allowed their bank accounts to be used as betting “pool accounts” in exchange for a 1% commission.
Investigators say periodic deposits of about $2,080 (TL100,000) were made into these accounts. Even the suspect with the lowest recorded activity allegedly showed around $1.9 million (TL90 million) in account traffic.
In that operation, 80 suspects were detained across 24 provinces. Authorities also seized 11 companies, 45 vehicles, 16 homes and 11 plots of land, assets with a combined estimated value of about $7.3 million (TL350 million).
Widespread asset restraints in Adana probe
In a separate gendarmerie-led operation centred on Adana, officials restrained 4,742 bank accounts and six cryptoasset accounts belonging to suspects accused of running illegal betting “panels” and facilitating money transfers.
The Interior Ministry said financial intelligence assessments found approximately $104 million (TL5 billion) in account activity linked to 47 suspects across 23 provinces. As part of the same case, authorities also imposed restraints on a shell company, 23 homes, 29 vehicles and 13 plots of land.
Real-time freeze during 2022 World Cup final
Officials have also begun targeting illegal betting in real time during major global tournaments. Istanbul prosecutors estimated that about $35 billion was wagered illegally during the 2022 World Cup and projected that figure could rise to roughly $50 billion for the 2026 tournament, focusing in particular on the final as the single highest-volume match.
Justice Minister Akın Gurlek said prosecutors identified 6,314 bank accounts used in illegal betting flows and issued simultaneous orders to banks to freeze them as the World Cup final kicked off. Turkish media reported that the accounts were mapped using an AI-assisted analysis system known as AVCI.
Gurlek added that the same operation uncovered 19 offshore “finance houses” running panel systems integrated with illegal betting platforms, with judicial proceedings opened against 23 suspects.
In February, the minister argued that Turkey needed to “drain the swamp” rather than rely on isolated prosecutions. He instructed chief prosecutors in all 81 provinces to prioritise co-ordination, digital evidence gathering and the rapid restraint of assets in illegal betting and related financial-crime cases.
Regulatory moves on crypto service providers
Alongside law-enforcement action, Turkey’s Capital Markets Board has issued updated information on crypto asset service providers following the introduction of new regulations.
The Board has published provisional lists as part of that process. The update, repeated in recent communications, sets out interim classifications for crypto service firms while the new regime is being implemented, but no further details were provided in the latest summary.
