Turkey detains 670+ in eight-day betting crackdown, crypto links

Turkish authorities detained more than 670 suspects across four major raids over eight days, officials announced Monday. The latest operations in Antalya and Mersin took legal action against 233 people and flagged roughly TL 18 billion (about $395 million) in transaction volume.

The Antalya Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office coordinated raids across 20 provinces that targeted 183 suspects whose accounts allegedly handled more than TL 11.3 billion (about $248 million). A gendarmerie operation based in Mersin detained 50 people linked to a network accused of laundering proceeds from foreign-based illegal betting websites and seized luxury vehicles, apartments and other assets.

Justice Minister Akın Gürlek wrote on X: “No criminal group is above justice. Our fight against crime and criminal organizations will continue without compromise, with the authority granted by law, until they are rooted out,” adding the networks posed a threat to “the future of our children and our economic security.”

The Monday actions bring the total number of suspects charged in four major raids since May 11 to more than 670. Earlier operations included an Eskişehir probe on May 11 that targeted 135 suspects in 33 provinces, an AI-assisted Istanbul operation on May 12 that detained 108 people across 35 provinces, and a May 14 Adana investigation that produced detention warrants for 200 suspects and led to 161 detentions, including commentator Rasim Ozan Kütahyalı.

Adana prosecutors identified multiple channels used to launder proceeds from illegal betting and phishing fraud, citing electronic payment companies, bank accounts, virtual point-of-sale systems, foreign exchange offices, jewelers, shell companies and cryptocurrency platforms. The case file lists three bank executives, eight police officers and four lawyers as persons of interest. Prosecutors allege roughly TL 37.7 million (about $800,000) moved from Kütahyalı’s account to other accounts used for layering, with about TL 15.7 million (about $350,000) transferred back; Kütahyalı has denied wrongdoing. He had posted “All illegal betting gangs will be eliminated” on May 13, the day before his arrest at his Istanbul home and transfer to Adana.

The enforcement actions are part of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 2025-2026 Action Plan for Combating Illegal Betting and Virtual Gambling, published Nov. 1, 2025. Turkey’s financial crimes unit, MASAK, recorded 502 analysis files and issued 545 intelligence reports in 2025 related to illegal betting, suspended transactions worth TL 5.1 billion (about $131 million) under anti-money-laundering measures, and reviewed nearly 14 million pieces of user data tied to gambling activity.

Officials reported the operations targeted both domestic facilitators and overseas platforms, and that further prosecutions and asset seizures are expected as investigations continue. Similar enforcement actions have appeared abroad: UK authorities carried out raids in April targeting illegal peer-to-peer crypto trading over money-laundering concerns.