Betting adds to protests to France

French football and basketball leagues were taken off the İddaa programs. AFP photo

Turkey’s state gaming authority announced it has removed French football and basketball leagues from betting programs to protest the resolution penalizing the denial of Armenian “genocide” approved by the French Assembly Dec. 22.

Spor Toto, which is the authority overseeing İddaa, the official sports betting company, announced the decision with a statement released late Dec. 22, hours after the voting took place in the French Assembly.

“Spor Toto announces it will take French Ligue 1, French Ligue 2 and French Basketball League out of its programming indefinitely,” the statement read.

The Spor Toto decision came after Turkey announced it cancelled bilateral military and economic cooperation and suspended all bilateral political consultations with France, describing the French vote as politics of racism and xenophobia ahead of the presidential elections next year.