Tax revenue from gambling in Turkey has risen sharply in recent years as sports betting and other games of chance expanded, reaching 50.2 billion lira ($1.18 billion) in the January through November period of 2025 and surpassing the full-year total recorded in 2024.
In 2020 gambling tax revenue was 3.46 billion lira ($500 million at the time).
The increase followed changes to tax rates after the 2023 general election, when levies on sports betting, horse racing and other games of chance were doubled. Although the rates were later reduced at the end of that year, collections continued to climb.
Another major change came in 2020, when National Lottery operations were transferred to Sisal Şans, a joint venture between the Demirören Group and the Italy-based Sisal. After the handover, gambling activity expanded online, shifting from weekly draws toward continuous digital play.
Authorities also report growth in illegal betting along with the legal market.
The Turkish Interior Ministry said law enforcement carried out 1,120 operations targeting illegal betting and gambling between January 1, 2024, and October 6, 2025. The ministry said cash and assets worth 15.847 billion lira ($373 million) were seized in those operations.
Media reports said authorities blocked access in the first 11 months of 2025 to more than 31,000 illegal betting websites, along with tens of thousands of web pages and social media accounts. Reports also said thousands of suspects were detained during the same period as part of illegal betting investigations.
Recent cases have focused on payment systems and digital firms.
On November 18 prosecutors put payment platform IQ Money under the control of the Savings Deposit Insurance Fund (TMSF) amid an investigation into alleged illegal betting and fraud. Investigators cited findings by the Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK), which said the platform’s transaction volumes were incompatible with ordinary commercial activity.
Courts on November 22 ordered the arrest of 32 suspects, including four football referees in an investigation into laundering proceeds from illegal betting. Prosecutors said the case involved cryptocurrency wallets and informal cross-border money transfer networks.
On December 5 an İstanbul court froze the assets of PayCo, an electronic payment company, in a separate investigation into alleged illegal betting and money laundering.
Prosecutors launched an operation on December 16 targeting Gain Medya, detaining three executives and appointing the TMSF as trustee to 7 affiliated companies over allegations that included illegal betting and forming a criminal organization.
Officials say there is no precise measurement of the size of the illegal betting market. Some official assessments suggest illegal betting volume may exceed the legal sector, based on comparisons between audited gambling revenues and financial intelligence evaluations.
A 2025 survey conducted on 36,334 participants across 26 provinces by a Turkish anti-addiction NGO in cooperation with the Health Ministry found that 6.6 percent of respondents who said they had gambled in the previous 30 days reported using illegal online betting.