Two elections to take place in Turkey in 2007--the presidential elections in May and the general election scheduled for November--will have several consequences for the gambling industry in Turkey and Northern Cyprus.
First of all, politicians will delay the new gambling law. Furthermore, the privatization of Milli Piyango, the national Lottery, will be delayed even longer. So on these two fronts one cannot expect any developments . . . until after the two elections.
Some analysts predict that if the current AKP government, with Islamic roots, wins the presidential and the general elections, all betting will be banned.
Casinos were closed in Turkey in 1997, and many of the operators moved to Northern Cyprus.
As always with election-year politics, lobbying firms, insiders influencing the media, complot theory dispersers, etc. are daily food for journalists and politicians. So, it is not so strange that adepts come up with stories one cannot trust nor check.
That brings us to a rumor that legalized online casino gambling is being debated in the Parliament; this is not correct.
What is correct is that there is a discussion concerning a new Internet law (as reported in IGN on Dec. 5, 2006). The very controversial Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code makes it a crime to "insult Turkishness," which the EU with very much pleasure would like to change because of its potential impact on freedom rights of speech. Censoring and blocking would be the following step.
Above that, there are at this moment several high-profile Internet child porn cases in Turkey in which foreigners as well as residents are involved. So, what some of the members of Parliament now are aiming for is that the new Internet law and the Turkishness clause will be combined. At this moment, one may hardly expect this.