Turkey’s Kocaeli province sees second wave of arrests as 35 more people are detained in offshore iGaming probe

Turkey has carried out another round of arrests in Kocaeli province, detaining 35 more people while one suspect reportedly left the country. For offshore iGaming operators with Turkish exposure, the important detail is not the number alone: investigators are now reviewing company records and transactions, which is where payment rails start to look a lot less theoretical.

1. This is the second wave of arrests in Kocaeli, coming a little less than a month after the first one. The text suggests the new detentions may be based on statements given by people arrested earlier, which is the classic “one arrest becomes a map” pattern.
2. Turkish authorities are now checking 11 companies registered in Kocaeli and examining transactions from 2023 to 2025. For PSPs, acquirers, and banking partners, that means the review is not just about company ownership or licensing paperwork; it is about actual money movement over a multi-year period.
3. The case sits inside a broader crackdown on offshore iGaming operators that accept, or have accepted, players from TR. According to the source, more than +1K people have been arrested in just over a month, with new arrests continuing on an almost daily basis.
4. One person reportedly managed to leave the country. The source does not say whether that changes the scope of the probe, but it does show that the investigation is moving across people, companies, and transaction histories at the same time.

For high-risk payment teams, the practical takeaway is straightforward: when a jurisdiction starts linking operators, registered entities, and transaction review across 2023–2025, the payment trail becomes part of the case file, not just a back-office record.