The following article comes from Interactive Gaming News:
Sportingbet learned Wednesday that two of its employees and an unknown number of individuals associated with its former marketing partner have been detained in Turkey.
“The reality is, we’re operating in an information vacuum at the moment,” George Hudson, a spokesman for Sportingbet, told Interactive Gaming News in a telephone interview Thursday.
Mr. Hudson, a director of Smithfield, the London-based financial communications consultancy, said the two Sportingbet employees were Turkish nationals who reside in the United Kingdom.
“They are junior staff,” he said. “They’re middle managers -- they’re not on the board. They just happened to be in Turkey over the weekend.”
Mr. Hudson could not release the identities of the detainees, whose association to the company’s Turkey-facing operation, Superbahis.com, also remains unclear.
In a prepared statement Wednesday, Sportingbet said “a number” of individuals associated with Maslin Properties Ltd., its former marketing partner in Turkey, had also been detained.
No further specification was made.
Sportingbet acquired Maslin in February 2007 for an initial consideration of £3.5 million, or $6.9 million, with a deferred consideration of 35.3 million company shares. At the time of acquisition, Maslin held ownership over the Superbahis.com domain name.
“Maslin Properties Ltd. were the group’s ex-marketing partner per se, but those marketing elements became ‘ex,’ as it were, when they were bought by Sportingbet last year,” Mr. Hudson said.
Shortly after the Maslin acquisition, the Turkish government enacted legislation prohibiting unlicensed commercial operators -- domestic and foreign -- from offering Internet-based games of chance to Turkish residents.
While Sportingbet does take bets from Turkish residents, the Superbahis.com operation -- including servers, payment processing services and Internet technology support -- is located “in the Group’s licensed and regulated locations,” according to its 2007 fourth-quarter results statement.
In Wednesday’s statement, the company said that for the third quarter ended April 30, 2008, net gaming revenue from Turkey accounted for approximately 14 percent of group net gaming revenue, versus 26 percent the previous quarter.
It is unclear what action Sportingbet will take with regard to its Superbahis.com operation. Likewise, it is unclear what financial impact the detentions will have on shareholder confidence.
On the London Stock Exchange Wednesday, shares were down 7.10 percent, or 2.75 pence, to 36 pence. The company's share price was last this low on August 18, 2007.
The company said that in recent months it has been “gradually reducing its reliance” on the Turkish market.
PartyGaming, Bwin Interactive Entertainment and other of the company's rivals left the Turkish market in 2007.
"It remains to be seen what happens here," said Mr. Hudson, commenting on the detentions. "There's a lack of information, and we're not going to prejudge what happens.
"That's where we are."
Andrew McIver, chief executive of Sportingbet, could not be reached for comment.