With the case closed it was business as usual for the online sports betting site, but recently three employees of Sportingbet, are put on trial, the charges apparently linked to the site's online activities towards the Turkish market.

Sportingbet, officially has no presence in Turkey, but on the other hand the employees that are put on trial have created a Turkish interface, making it easy for Turkish citizens to circumvent the local laws and bet online. Despite the official ban by the government on online gambling, the country ranks as the fourth market in Europe for Internet gambling, after Greece and Italy. Even though Sportingbet is a UK based company, and officially has nothing to do with Turkey, it is allowing gamblers from Turkey to use their site, and through the easy to use interface in their native language, makes it easy for Turkish residents to bypass the laws and gamble online.

Because of this Turkey has taken up the position, claiming that Sportingbet is violating the gambling laws, pointing at the interface in the Turkish language as proof that the company is specifically targeting the Turkish market. On the other hand, the sports betting operation claims that since people with the Turkish nationality are spread throughout all of Europe in countries where their activities are allowed, that the interface is targeted at those players, and was not specifically designed to cater to the Turkish online gambling market.

The courts in Istanbul closed the previous case due to lack of jurisdiction, but this new trial differs slightly. In 2008 while pending the court case, the sports bettor went on a decline on the stock market as the shares of the company decreased with 7% while the trial was pending. It is expected for this new case, to have a similar effect, even worse should Turkey pursue the matter.

The Sports betting employees in question, do not have to actually show up in Istanbul. It will be a hearing behind closed doors, But the sports bettor will be represented to state their case. The gambling company received the advice to seek a trial in the UK, and the event of an extradition out of the UK, is deemed highly unlikely.

Chances are, that once again the High courts in Istanbul may conclude that jurisdiction is lacking in this case. When online gambling is concerned a lot of the present European legislation leaves for a grey area, as to what online gambling sites can and cannot do.

In any event, this will be a trial that is going to be watched by many online casino operators. In case Turkey does decide to pursue the trial, its outcome may change the face of the online gambling industry in Europe forever.

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