Turkish Online Gambling Ring Dismantled

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Sep 16, 2016

Alleged mastermind said to be a UK gambling executive

The police in Istanbul, Turkey have reported the breakup of a major online gambling ring following a tip-off that led to a five-month investigation and a nation-wide police swoop this week.
39 persons were arrested in raids across twenty Turkish and Turkish-Cypriot cities, police spokesmen revealed, claiming that the ring generated in excess of $100 million a month.
Half of that was remitted overseas to the alleged mastermind, a UK gambling executive that media have tentatively identified as possibly Scott William Masterson, a director of a gambling supply company.
During the raids police officials seized evidence, cash to the value of GBP 6 million, and assets such as expensive cars and property totalling GBP 150 million in Cyprus and $780 million in Turkey.
One of the illegal enterprise's alleged Cyprus-based leaders, Veysel Şahin is being sought by police, who are reportedly about to request the assistance of Interpol in help in his apprehension.
Police have revealed that the ring operated at least six online gambling websites from servers in four countries outside Turkey.

Online Casino News Courtesy of Infopowa

Brian Cullingworth

Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.

We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.

His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.


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