Turkey's Regulator Crackdown on Betting Sites: 2025 Figures

Summary: Turkey's fight against illegal betting and online gambling turned into a multi-agency action plan under a Presidential Directive that took effect in November 2025. Below are the standout figures from BTK's latest activity report.

November 2025: A Multi-Agency Action Plan

On November 1, 2025, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed a directive putting the "Action Plan Against Illegal Betting, Games of Chance, and Gambling in the Virtual Environment" into effect. Under the plan, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Family and Social Services, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, the Ministry of National Education, the Ministry of Health, the Capital Markets Board (SPK), the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), and BTK are all expected to work in coordination.

Access Blocks by the Numbers

According to figures released by BTK, a total of 548,420 illegal betting and online gambling sites were blocked between 2006 and 2025. Most of that total accumulated in just the past few years: 232,899 sites were blocked in 2024 alone, and 84,585 in 2025. In addition, 11,236 sites that didn't host betting/gambling content directly but advertised or redirected to such sites were shut down under the same scope in 2025.

According to BTK's 2025 Activity Report, 62.45% of the administrative access-blocking decisions it applied were based on "providing a place or means for gambling" and "illegal betting." Obscenity followed at 25.43%, and prostitution at 11.35% — meaning roughly 99% of all access blocks fall into just these few offense categories.

Social Media and SMS Channels Are Also in Scope

A notable aspect of the action plan is that it targets not only the betting sites themselves, but also the channels that redirect users to them. In 2025, 261 social media accounts found to be advertising or redirecting to online gambling and illegal betting sites were reported to the Ministry of Trade's Advertising Board and had their access blocked. In addition, criminal complaints were filed against the owners of phone lines sending bulk SMS messages (via 0850-prefix numbers) redirecting recipients to such sites.

Officials have also indicated that additional sanctions targeting web browsers, search engines, and social media platforms are under discussion. This suggests the crackdown is trending toward expanding beyond site-blocking to the platform level.

The Paymix-3 Operation: A Direct Hit on Payment Infrastructure

One of the action plan's most concrete results came on May 5, 2026. In an operation dubbed "Paymix-3," coordinated by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Istanbul Gendarmerie Command, a network that supplied illegal betting sites with payment infrastructure via cryptocurrency and shell-company structures was dismantled. Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç's announcement highlighted the following figures:

• Detention orders were issued for 38 suspects (15 of them abroad),
• The network's monthly transaction volume was found to be approximately $3 billion,
• 49 illegal betting sites were shut down,
• 535 bank/crypto accounts were frozen; 26 vehicles, 18 homes, and 3 offices were seized,
• Of the 13.8 million user records reviewed as part of the operation, 3,173,000 matched a Turkish national ID number.

That last figure is especially significant: even the data examined under a single investigation revealed millions of real individuals with a transaction history on illegal betting sites. The operation targeted an international network that also used jewelers and currency-exchange offices for money laundering — showing that the fight against illegal betting extends beyond blocking sites all the way to payment infrastructure.

Verification Tools for Citizens

BTK offers an open-source lookup by domain or IP address through its internet.btk.gov.tr portal; roughly 50 million queries were made through that portal last year. Reports of illegal content can be filed through the Internet Reporting Center at ihbarweb.org.tr; the number of individual reports reviewed had surpassed 3.2 million by the end of 2025.

What Does This Mean?

This data shows that Turkey's fight against illegal betting and online gambling is growing in both volume and scope. It's worth noting that accessing unlicensed foreign betting/casino sites from Turkey, and promoting them through advertising, each constitute separate criminal offenses under Law No. 7258. We recommend consulting a legal expert for definitive information about current legislation and your personal legal standing. This page only summarizes publicly available statistics and does not constitute legal advice.

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