Turkish authorities detained 59 suspects in eight provinces in an illegal betting investigation, the Interior Ministry said Oct. 11.
Investigators found 7 billion Turkish lira (about $142.2 million) in movement across the suspects' accounts, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency, which reported the ministry's statement.
Authorities placed precautionary measures on 11 properties and 61 movable assets belonging to the suspects, worth a combined 110 million lira (about $2.2 million), the ministry said.
The operation was coordinated from Osmaniye province. Suspects also were detained in Gaziantep, Mersin, Adana, Manisa, Kayseri, Kahramanmaraş and Antalya.
Osmaniye Provincial Gendarmerie Command teams carried out the work, the ministry said. They acted with the Gendarmerie General Command's departments for combating smuggling and organized crime and for combating cybercrime, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board, known as MASAK, and the Düziçi Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.
The ministry said the suspects ran illegal betting through websites and acted as intermediaries in illegal money transfers. Investigators also determined that proceeds were fed into the financial system by various methods.
The ministry described the 7 billion lira as money movement in the accounts. Anadolu's report does not say what period the figure covers or how much of it relates to wagers, transfers between accounts or other payments.
The report also does not say the money was seized. Dollar figures use the Central Bank of Turkey's indicative selling rate for Oct. 9, 49.216 lira to the dollar.
The restricted assets are worth about 1.57% of the account movement, based on the ministry's figures. The two numbers measure different things, and the report does not describe the movable assets.
Anadolu's report does not name betting brands or payment providers, and it mentions no convictions or final confiscation rulings.
The investigation is separate from a case in Kırklareli that the ministry announced Sept. 24, involving 24 suspects in seven provinces and 2.155 billion lira in account movement. Reports of the two statements do not point to a link between the groups.
