Turkey Uses AI Tool to Map Telegram Betting Networks, 121 Held

Turkish authorities have used an AI-based intelligence system to trace illegal betting networks run through Telegram, and 121 suspects are now being held pending trial, according to an iGamingToday report published on 10 November 2026. The case is relevant well beyond Turkey: messaging-app betting is the same channel enforcement teams fight in Southeast Asia, which we track for Malaysian readers in our Malaysia online gambling hub.

How the operation unfolded

The iGamingToday report, which draws on Turkish Minute and the Turkish newspaper Sabah, says investigators initially targeted 194 suspects in a nationwide probe into betting promoted through Telegram groups. Raids took place on 3 November across 39 provinces.

Of the 169 people detained, 45 were released under judicial supervision and three were released without restrictions, leaving 121 in custody pending trial. Being held pending trial is not a conviction, and none of the suspects has been found guilty in court on the basis of the public reporting.

The AI tool behind the case

The system at the centre of the investigation is called AVCI, described as an open-source intelligence platform developed by the Istanbul police. According to the report, it uses natural language processing to read the slang, code words and emoji combinations betting promoters use to avoid detection, and links accounts that appear to belong to the same network.

Sabah reported that the tool flagged around 306,000 potentially incriminating messages across 47 Telegram groups. That volume is the point: a human team reading chat logs one by one would struggle to connect promoters, payment handlers and recruiters spread over dozens of groups and provinces.

A separate money trail in Aydın

The same report describes a separate gendarmerie investigation based in Aydın province. It focuses on 40 suspects whose bank accounts recorded TRY 3.484 billion, about US$102 million, in transactions. Raids in 14 provinces on 3 November led to 37 detentions, and measures were applied to 467 bank accounts, four cryptocurrency accounts and four vehicles.

The mix of bank and crypto accounts mirrors a pattern seen in other markets, where illegal operators use networks of personal accounts to move deposits and payouts. Turkey’s gendarmerie operates under the Ministry of Interior, which has made illegal betting a recurring enforcement priority.

Not the first sweep this year

iGamingToday also points to an earlier operation in May that led to 108 arrests in 35 provinces, involved a review of around 600,000 messages and ended with 5,151 websites blocked. The November action suggests authorities are moving from blocking sites towards mapping the people and payment channels behind them.

What it means for Southeast Asia

Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand all prohibit unlicensed online gambling, and all three face the same shift of promotion from websites to Telegram channels, private groups and social media. Malaysia’s regulator has relied heavily on takedowns, as we reported in our story on MCMC gambling takedowns. The Turkish case shows the next step some authorities are taking: using language models to read the chats themselves and link them to bank accounts.

For players, the practical lesson is simple. Betting offered through a chat group has no licence, no dispute process and no guarantee of payout, and anyone sending money to personal bank or crypto accounts for such a service carries the risk if those accounts are frozen in an investigation like the one in Aydın.

Have you seen betting offers pushed through Telegram or other chat groups in Malaysia, and do you think AI monitoring would stop them?

Frequently Asked Questions

iGaming Backlink (igamingbacklink.com) arranges guest posts and niche-edit backlinks for gambling brands, and Mediardx (mediardx.com) handles iGaming SEO.