Istanbul data-delay scheme cost licensed bookmakers TL12 million
Prosecutors allege a Spordata analyst delayed live odds by seven seconds, letting associates bet on known scores before eight suspects were detained.
Prosecutors in Istanbul are pressing a case against eight suspects accused of manipulating live betting data to guarantee winning wagers, iGaming Business has reported.
The scheme is said to have cost licensed Turkish bookmakers TL12 million, equivalent to roughly $241,144.
At the centre of the investigation is a data analyst identified only as OB, who worked for Spordata, the company that supplies sports data and operational infrastructure to Turkey's legally licensed betting operators.
According to local reporting cited by iGaming Business, prosecutors allege OB deliberately delayed the transmission of live odds by around seven seconds during matches including tennis and volleyball fixtures.
That lag allowed OB and associates who had opened betting accounts to place wagers already knowing the real score, removing the risk that live betting is supposed to carry for the customer.
Prosecutors say the delayed data caused financial damage both to Spordata and to the licensed operators that depend on its feeds, with the cumulative loss put at TL12 million.
Investigators cite recovered WhatsApp messages among the evidence, including the lines "We will make good money", "If you play, we will go through the money" and "I am managing the system right now".
Those messages are said to contradict OB's own statement to police and prosecutors, in which he denied knowledge of the system or of any such exchanges.
OB was taken into custody in July this year after the findings emerged.
Turkey's financial crimes unit subsequently widened its scrutiny of OB's accounts and identified inflows and outflows totalling approximately TL192 million, which investigators say may be linked to the betting irregularities.
Coordinated police operations in Istanbul led to the arrest of eight further suspects connected to the alleged manipulation, who now face judicial proceedings alongside OB.
The case follows a separate investigation launched last month into an illegal betting network spanning eight Turkish provinces, in which the Interior Ministry said linked accounts showed suspicious financial activity totalling TL17.75 billion.
The ministry has said its crackdown on digital illegal gambling will continue as part of a wider effort to stop criminal proceeds moving through banking and payment systems.
Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi was reported earlier this year to have described illegal betting as a "scourge that corrupts society", signalling a push for tougher enforcement across the sector.