Turkey hits jackpot by privatizing gambling
Turkey’s government has decided to privatize all games of chance, driven both by religious motives and financial woes.
In Turkish mosques, imams will sometimes speak against games of chance, preaching to the devout that getting rich without labor and earning more than one deserves is religiously forbidden.
Such sermons could be considered natural, since most religions frown on gambling. What is not natural, though, is that Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (RAD) produces fatwas to fit government policies. On Aug. 29, the 88-year-old National Lottery Agency was privatized with the backing of a RAD fatwa that declared lotteries to be illegitimate.
The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has moved to privatize all games of chance, both to get rid of criticism by conservatives that it is “sponsoring gambling” and to put some fast money in the treasury’s coffers. The games of chance, however, will continue uninterrupted, run by the private sector. Moreover, those companies are expected to offer new games and further expand the sector.
Following a briefing by the Finance Ministry, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, “The state must completely pull out from the games of chance sector.”
