Turkey: investigation, arrests and mass suspension of judges
Turkey has uncovered the large-scale involvement of referees in sports betting. The five-year investigation ended with a harsh reaction from the Turkish Football Federation.
What happened
- Twenty-one arrest warrants were issued, 17 to judges
- Eighteen people have been detained, including the chairman of the Super League club, a former club owner and an ex-president of the association
- Of the 571 audited, 371 have BC accounts
Details of the investigation
- 152 people regularly bet on sports
- Among them: 7 referees, 15 assistant referees, 36 reserve referees, 94 assistant referees
- 42 defendants were betting on a thousand+ matches
- Absolute maximum - 18,277 bids from one participant
Sanctions
- 149 judges have been suspended
- Timeline - 8-12 months
Context: it's not just Turkey
MLB is being investigated in the US: players are suspected of influencing match outcomes. The profit of the scheme is $460,000 and the prison term is up to 20 years. Umpires, athletes and staff are drawn into the schemes. Cases multiply and go beyond the individual leagues.
International trend
- UEFA, FIFA and IOC step up monitoring due to spike in suspicious episodes
- Most signals come from the lower leagues and regional divisions (easier to hide interference)
- Growing availability of online betting increases attempts to influence from within«
Conclusions
- The problem becomes transnational, not point problem
- Risks come from within - from people with access to the process
- If referees or players bet themselves, the odds lose objectivity: the model counts one thing, but the match no longer does
- It is important for operators to spot anomalies more quickly and step up inspections