Türkiye Blocks 47,493 Illegal Betting Sites, Freezes Crypto Wallets

Türkiye has blocked access to 47,493 illegal betting websites since Jan. 1 as authorities expand a nationwide campaign against online operators and their payment networks. Anadolu Agency, citing Interior Ministry sources, said police and gendarmerie units conducted 680 operations, detained 5,629 suspects, secured the pretrial detention of 3,231 and placed a further 1,515 under judicial control.

Cybercrime units are conducting round-the-clock patrols of illegal betting sites, social media advertisements and digital connections to payment systems. Investigators are also tracing bank accounts, electronic-money services and cryptoasset accounts suspected of helping operators collect wagers or transfer criminal proceeds.

The national figures extend a concentrated series of May raids. Four operations announced over eight days took legal action against more than 670 suspects, with one Adana investigation identifying cryptocurrency platforms among the alleged channels used to launder betting proceeds.

A June 5 statement from the Istanbul Anatolian Chief Public Prosecutor's Office identified seven shared crypto wallets outside Türkiye that allegedly received regular transfers from an illegal betting organization. Prosecutors put the network's total transaction activity at $4 billion (TL192.37 billion) and said all bank and crypto accounts associated with the suspects were blocked.

Investigators alleged the network, coordinated by a suspect identified as İ.Ö.Ö., drew income from illegal betting and from matches whose results had been arranged in advance, plus wagers placed through Türkiye's legal betting system. Proceeds allegedly moved through currency-exchange bureaus and Grand Bazaar jewelers before reaching crypto wallets whose users could not be identified. The case was run by the prosecutor's terrorism-financing and money-laundering bureau alongside financial-intelligence agency MASAK.

Prosecutors alleged that the organization recruited people between 20 and 30 years old with no regular income or commercial activity, sent periodic deposits of about $2,080 (TL100,000) into their accounts and used them as betting "pool accounts" in exchange for a 1% commission. Even the lowest-volume suspect showed roughly $1.9 million (TL90 million) in account traffic. Authorities detained 80 suspects across 24 provinces and seized 11 companies, 45 vehicles, 16 homes and 11 plots of land worth about $7.3 million (TL350 million).

A separate gendarmerie operation centered in Adana restrained 4,742 bank accounts and six cryptoasset accounts belonging to suspects accused of managing illegal betting panels and facilitating money transfers. The Interior Ministry said financial intelligence reviews found about $104 million (TL5 billion) in account activity among 47 suspects across 23 provinces, with a shell company, 23 homes, 29 vehicles and 13 plots also restrained.

The crackdown has also moved toward real-time disruption. Istanbul prosecutors estimated that about $35 billion was wagered illegally during the 2022 World Cup and projected roughly $50 billion for the 2026 tournament, concentrating their efforts on the final as the single highest-volume fixture. Justice Minister Akın Gürlek said prosecutors identified 6,314 bank accounts used in illegal betting traffic and sent simultaneous instructions to banks to freeze them as the match began. Turkish media reported that the accounts were mapped using an AI-assisted analysis system known as AVCI.

Gürlek said the same operation exposed 19 offshore "finance houses" running panel systems integrated with illegal betting sites, with judicial action started against 23 suspects. In February, he said that Türkiye needed to "drain the swamp" rather than rely on isolated prosecutions, instructing chief prosecutors across all 81 provinces to prioritize coordination, digital evidence, and asset restraints.