Turkish
Authorities Arrest Sportingbet Employees
May 30 - This week Turkish authorities separately arrested two
UK-based employees of leading online sports betting website,
Sportingbet, while they were on holiday in Istanbul, as part of
the country's widespread crackdown on online gambling.
Both employees, who have as yet to be named, are reportedly
middle managers in Sportingbet's London head office, and are
thought to be Turkish nationals. They, and 28 other people, were
detained by Turkish police in an organised raid.
In a statement, Sportingbet, which is listed on the London Stock
Exchange, said that the arrests were related to 'Superbahis',
its Turkish facing business, and that as yet it had still not
received any formal clarification regarding the arrests from
Turkish authorities.
In September 2006, Sportingbet made world headlines after its
then chairman, Peter Dicks, was arrested by US authorities in
New York. While Dicks spent some time in detention, no charges
were ever brought against him. The arrest, however, kicked off a
spurt of online gambling-related arrests in the US, which has
banned online gambling.
Financial reports suggest that Sportingbet's Turkish operations
accounted for 26 percent of its net gaming revenues in the
second quarter of the current financial year, but only 14
percent in the third quarter to end of April. As a result,
Sportingbet's share price fell two and three quarters to 36p.
Said Sportingbet CEO, Andrew McIver, 'Turkish lawmakers are
seeking to make it illegal for online gambling companies to be
based anywhere in the world. Our understanding is that Turkish
law ends at the Turkish borders.'
He went on to explain that the company is under the impression
that it can freely accept online bets from Turkish gambling fans
as long as it has no assets or operations based in Turkey
itself.
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