Online gambling in Türkiye: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Türkiye?

Law 7258 of 1959 vests the right to organize sports betting in the state, exercised by the Spor Toto Organization, which contracted the İddaa business to a private head dealer, Şans Girişim, for ten years from 2019. The national lottery licence sits with the Türkiye Wealth Fund and is operated by the Sisal Şans joint venture under a ten-year contract from 2020. Casinos have been closed since 1998 and no private casino, poker or online gambling licence exists. Enforcement is severe and escalating: a presidential action plan for 2025–2026 coordinated by MASAK, tens of thousands of site blockings a year, mass account freezes and prison terms of up to six years for enabling access to foreign betting sites.

State monopoly: A state or single licensee runs online gambling; private operators cannot be licensed.

Who regulates gambling in Türkiye?

• Spor Toto Teşkilat Başkanlığı (Spor Toto Organization Presidency) (Spor Toto) — Holds the exclusive right to organize sports betting for the Ministry of Youth and Sports; licenses dealers and contracts the head dealer
• Milli Piyango İdaresi Genel Müdürlüğü (MPİ) — National lottery authority; the licence was transferred to the Türkiye Wealth Fund in 2017 and is operated by Sisal Şans
• Mali Suçları Araştırma Kurulu (Financial Crimes Investigation Board) (MASAK) — Financial intelligence unit coordinating the 2025–2026 action plan against illegal betting and freezing linked accounts

Türkiye gambling licence: how it works

No private operator can obtain a Türkiye gambling licence. Spor Toto may delegate betting services to private companies only by tender under Law 5738 of 2008; the current İddaa head-dealer contract was signed with Şans Girişim (Demirören Holding) on 28 February 2019 for ten years, with sales through about 4,500 fixed dealers and authorized virtual dealers such as Nesine, Misli and Bilyoner. Milli Piyango games are run by Sisal Şans (51% Şans Dijital, 49% Sisal) under a ten-year revenue-sharing contract with the Wealth Fund from 2020, and horse-race betting is reserved to the Turkish Jockey Club. Providing a place or means for gambling, including through information systems, is a crime under Penal Code Article 228.

What an applicant needs

• Head-dealer and lottery contracts are awarded only by public tender run by Spor Toto or the Türkiye Wealth Fund
• Fixed and virtual dealers need a Spor Toto dealer licence and a connection to the central betting system
• Dealer applicants must have no convictions for the offenses listed in the implementing regulation, including illegal betting and money laundering
• Players are verified against the national identity number and must be 18 or older
• Since Law 7551 of July 2025, Spor Toto may delegate dealer licensing and audits to private legal entities

Gambling taxes in Türkiye

• Operators: Games-of-chance tax under Law 5602 on gross turnover: 5% for sports betting, 7% for horse racing and 10% for other games of chance, restored to statutory levels from 1 January 2024 by Presidential Decision 8003; a public share of turnover and corporate tax apply on top.
• Players: Prizes are subject to inheritance and gift tax withheld at source at 20% above the annual exemption of TL 66,935 for 2026 (Revenue Administration communiqué No. 57).
• Also: Playing unlicensed betting is an administrative offense under Article 5(1)(d) of Law 7258; the statutory TL 5,000–20,000 fine is revalued yearly and law-firm estimates put the 2026 range above TL 100,000.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Only the state games may be advertised, under Spor Toto's rules for its head dealer and virtual dealers. Encouraging people to play unlicensed betting, by advertising or otherwise, is a crime under Article 5(1)(ç) of Law 7258: one to three years in prison plus a judicial fine. Cyber-patrol units monitor social-media accounts that promote illegal sites.

Responsible gaming

Players must be 18 or older. The state operators run responsible-gaming programs, and the 2025–2026 action plan adds an addiction-awareness strand aimed at young people and families.

Identity and age verification

Legal accounts are opened against the Turkish national identity number and payouts go to bank accounts in the player's name. Judicial reform proposals announced in late 2025 would require biometric or chip-ID verification to open electronic-money accounts, to stop accounts being rented to illegal betting networks.

Payments

Legal games settle through Turkish banks and cards in lira. Payment intermediation for unlicensed betting carries three to five years in prison (Law 7258, Article 5(1)(c)). In 2025 MASAK stopped about TL 5 billion of transactions linked to illegal betting, and in July 2026 prosecutors froze 6,314 bank accounts as the World Cup final began.

Notable restrictions

• Casinos closed since 1998; online casino and poker are illegal
• Enabling access from Türkiye to betting run abroad: four to six years in prison (Law 7258, Article 5(1)(b))
• Operating or providing a place or means for unlicensed betting: three to five years plus up to 10,000 days of judicial fine
• Gambling through information systems is aggravated under Penal Code Article 228(3): three to five years plus a judicial fine
• 47,493 illegal betting sites blocked between January and late July 2026 (Interior Ministry via Anadolu Agency)
• Assets, accounts and premises used for illegal betting are confiscated or closed

Türkiye iGaming market: size, players and payments

Legal turnover is published by Spor Toto and the Wealth Fund; the Sisal Şans contract targeted lottery turnover of at least TL 9.32 billion in 2020. No reliable estimate exists for the illegal market; Istanbul prosecutors' projection of about USD 50 billion wagered illegally around the 2026 World Cup is an enforcement estimate (Daily Sabah, July 2026).

Most legal betting is placed through the virtual dealers' apps and Şans Girişim's iddaa.com, which sit alongside about 4,500 fixed dealers.

None in the legal market: Şans Girişim is the exclusive İddaa head dealer and Sisal Şans the exclusive operator of Milli Piyango games, with a handful of authorized virtual dealers reselling İddaa.

Timeline: how Türkiye got here

1. 1959-05Law 7258 reserves betting on football and other sports to the state
2. 1998Land-based casinos closed by law
3. 2013-07Law 6495 rewrites Article 5 of Law 7258 with prison terms for operating, enabling, paying for or advertising illegal betting
4. 2019-02Şans Girişim signs the ten-year İddaa head-dealer contract
5. 2020-08Sisal Şans takes over Milli Piyango operations under a ten-year revenue-sharing contract
6. 2024-01Games-of-chance tax rates restored to 5%, 7% and 10%
7. 2025-07Law 7551 lets Spor Toto delegate dealer licensing and audits to private entities
8. 2025-11Presidential circular adopts the 2025–2026 action plan against illegal betting in the digital environment
9. 2026-0747,493 sites blocked since January; 6,314 bank accounts frozen during the World Cup final

Outlook

Expect more enforcement, not liberalization. In December 2025 the Justice Minister said drafting had begun to raise penalties for gambling and illegal betting, with heavier sentences for organized groups and offenses targeting children; track that bill through 2026. The action plan runs to the end of 2026, and the İddaa (2029) and Milli Piyango (2030) contracts come up for re-tender later in the decade. Nothing public suggests private online licensing is under consideration.

GameBridge and Türkiye

Not served by GameBridge. Türkiye offers no licence to private operators, treats enabling access to foreign betting as a felony and blocks sites and payments, so GameBridge brands exclude the country by default; this page exists so compliance teams can verify the position quickly.

Türkiye sits on the default exclusion list of every GameBridge brand: geo-controls block Turkish IP ranges and registrations, Turkish identity documents are rejected at KYC, and the lira is not offered as a wallet currency. The Turkish site language remains available for brands in other markets where the operator's counsel has confirmed that Turkish-speaking residents may be served. Compliance teams can use this page to confirm the monopoly structure, the criminal provisions of Law 7258 and Penal Code Article 228, and the enforcement climate. GameBridge offers no configuration that targets players in Türkiye.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• 7258 sayılı Futbol ve Diğer Spor Müsabakalarında Bahis ve Şans Oyunları Düzenlenmesi Hakkında Kanun — Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi, accessed 2026-09-11
• 5602 sayılı Şans Oyunları Hasılatından Alınan Vergi, Fon ve Payların Düzenlenmesi Hakkında Kanun — Türkiye Jokey Kulübü, accessed 2026-09-11
• 7551 sayılı Kanun, Madde 2 (Law 7258 Article 2(7) re-enacted) — Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, accessed 2026-09-11
• Sanal Ortamda Yasa Dışı Bahis, Şans Oyunları ve Kumarla Mücadele Eylem Planı (2025-2026) — Cumhurbaşkanlığı Genelgesi — T24, accessed 2026-09-11
• Yasa dışı bahisle mücadelede 47 bini aşkın siteye erişim engeli — Anadolu Ajansı, accessed 2026-09-11
• Türkiye freezes 6,000 illegal World Cup betting accounts — Daily Sabah, accessed 2026-09-11
• Turnover in the National Lottery to triple in 2020 (Sisal-Şans contract) — Türkiye Wealth Fund, accessed 2026-09-11
• Veraset ve İntikal Vergisi Kanunu Genel Tebliği (Seri No: 57) — Gelir İdaresi Başkanlığı, accessed 2026-09-11
• Bakan Tunç'tan 'yasa dışı bahis' açıklaması: mevzuat çalışmaları başlatıldı — Milliyet, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.