| Two Sportingbet staff detained in Turkey |
Two UK employees of Sportingbet have been detained in Turkey as part of the country's crackdown on online gambling.
The two management staff, who remain unnamed by Sportingbet, are Turkish nationals. They were in Turkey on holiday and were detained by police officers in Istanbul during a raid which is believed to have led to about 30 others being detained. The Sportingbet staff were not together when arrested.
Sportingbet said the detentions "related to Superbahis", its Turkish online betting site, and was "aware that individuals related to the group's ex-marketing partner had also been held. The company said it had "received no formal clarification of events from the Turkish authorities".
Sportingbet was caught up in the US clampdown on internet gambling when its chairman Peter Dicks was arrested in New York in 2006. However, no charges were brought against Mr Dicks.
Sportingbet's chief executive Andrew McIver said the group's interpretation of Turkey’s new laws was that it could continue taking bets as long as it had no assets or operations in the country. The group's computer processing is in Guernsey and customer support in Dublin.
Mr McIver said: ''Turkish law seeks to make it illegal to be based anywhere in the world. Our interpretation is that Turkish law ends at the Turkish border."
Rival company PartyGaming pulled out of Turkey last year, seemingly aware of the potential threat of criminal prosecution. However, 888.com still operate a Turkish portal for the time being.
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