Turkey Casinos

While no legal casinos exist in Turkey as of Jan. 1, 2017, visitors and citizens can bet on horse races and the state-sponsored sports betting and lottery. Horse race betting was legalized in 1984.

Recent history of Turkish casinos and gambling

Casinos were allowed beginning in 1990 but restrictions were placed on them in July 1996 and then casinos were banned outright in December that year a month after authorizing the state lottery, Milli Piyango.

Online gambling that was not regulated by the state was banned in 2007 with some success.

Many illegal casinos were set up in basements and out of the way places, but by 2011 there were reports of as many as 20 "members only" 5-star casinos in Istanbul alone. 

It's unclear if any of the casinos have remained open after the July 15, 2016, Turkish coup d'état attempt and the subsequent crackdown, arrests, and purging by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Where can Turkish citizens gamble legally?

The northern part of Cyprus has been controlled by Turkey since August 1974 and the Turks refer to the area as the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus since declaring it a state in 1983 against international protests. 

In northern Cyprus, you will find about 30 casinos in operation that don't seem to be subject to Turkish Law (Article 228 of the Penal Code) or the laws of the Republic of Cyprus.