Turkey – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations

Finding the best Turkish casino online

As we said, gambling is strictly prohibited in Turkey, aside from connecting to the state-owned IDDAA, which is authorized to offer sports betting services to Turkish residents. So, if betting on sporting teams like Beşiktaş, Bursaspor, Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, or Trabzonspor in Europe or the Süper Lig is something you want to do, we advise only placing wagers via IDDAA sites. As for online casinos, however, there are more than a few options in the Turkish language, but none of them are legal to use if you are based within Turkey. Nevertheless, GoodLuckMate always includes the language details of each site in its comprehensive online casino reviews.

The other things covered in our reviews include the latest welcome bonus offers, full details on the significant terms and conditions, what level of customer support you can expect (as well as if it’s available in Turkish), your payment method choices, and much more. Of course, we cover all of the major casino games available too, including slots, table games, live dealers, video poker, and bingo. You can also find in-depth reviews of some of the biggest titles right here, too. Here are a few things you should consider if you want to proceed with signing up at a reviewed site:

• Have you read through the entire GoodLuckMate review?
• Have you checked that your payment method is offered?
• Is it possible to deposit and withdraw using Turkish lira?
• Is the site in question translated into the Turkish language?
• Have you read all the terms and conditions for bonuses?

If you’ve done all of that and you want to play at a Turkish casino from outside of Turkey, be sure to click through the welcome bonus banners on our reviews for the best deals in town.

Gambling regulation – The legal status in Turkey

As pointed out above, online casinos are prohibited under the laws of the country, with hefty fines being meted out for anyone caught gambling. This has been the case since 2006, yet some online casinos with servers based outside of the country still flout the laws and accept players from Turkey. However, seeing as the law enforcement agencies in Turkey have made examples of some players caught breaking the law, we do not advise that you follow suit.

Because of the legal status, there is no Turkish regulatory body governing these sites, but this is not the case for the IDDAA scheme under which some online sports betting is permitted, taxed, and some of the profits from losing wagers given to charitable causes within Turkey. As for land-based casinos (see below), these exist but are liable for prosecution at any given time.

Localized online casinos

Millions of people within Turkey and beyond speak Turkish either as their mother tongue or as a second or third language, so it’s no wonder that some casino sites targetting the Meditteranean area have translated everything into the language. Some even offer things like customer support and live dealer games in the language, making it easy for native speakers to join in with the fun from outside of Turkey. Additionally, it’s not impossible to find sites that accept the Turkish lira as currency, but many others stick to euros, pounds, or US dollars.

Casinos in Turkey

Gambling on horse racing from small shops all over the country and betting on numerous games at land-based casinos used to be perfectly legal and a very popular pastime within the country. However, after the assassination of the so-called ‘Turkish casino king’ Ömer Lütfü Topal in 1996 and numerous accusations of money laundering practices, the government changed its laissez-faire approach and decided to ban the lot almost overnight. This meant that all land-based casinos and privately-owned sports betting shops went out of business once the new laws came into effect in 1998. 

Not that this has dented the proliferation of gambling establishments within the country much at all. Land-based casinos can still be found (though often disguised) in many of the major cities, including Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Konya, and Bursa. However, we absolutely do not recommend that you attempt to gamble at these illegal locations because the sentences for getting caught doing so are often harsh, to say the least.