Telegram Gambling Ads in Turkey 2026: What the Law Says and What We Measure
Not lawfully, unless you are a state-authorised operator. Law No. 7258 reserves betting on sports to the state body Spor Toto and, in article 5, makes it a crime to offer unauthorised betting, to enable access from Turkey to betting run abroad, to move money for it, and to advertise it — advertising carries one to three years in prison and a judicial fine. Sites are blocked under Law No. 5651. Telegram's own guidelines prohibit gambling ads in §5.6. What we measure: 145 gambling campaigns targeting Turkey ran 362,777 impressions at a 3.02% click-through rate, and 28.3% of them were declined — the highest decline rate we record for any country (3 October 2026). An approved ad is not legal clearance; Turkish law is the advertiser's responsibility.
Turkey has a large betting audience and one of the strictest legal regimes for reaching it. Earlier versions of this page described how offshore operators advertise there; this version sets out what Turkish law says about betting and its advertising, how the ban is enforced, and what our own accounts recorded. Status as of 3 October 2026; it is not legal advice.
Is online gambling legal in Turkey in 2026?
Only inside the state system.
- Sports betting. Law No. 7258 punishes anyone who runs betting or games of chance based on sports events «Kanunun verdiği yetkiye dayalı olmaksızın» — without the authority the Law gives. That authority belongs to Spor Toto Teşkilat Başkanlığı, the state body that may exercise it itself or delegate it to private-law entities (article 2). Its fixed-odds betting game is İddaa.
- Lottery. Milli Piyango games have been run since 1 August 2020 by Sisal Şans under a contract with the Turkey Wealth Fund, while the state lottery administration keeps the power to monitor and audit them (Bloomberg HT).
- Casino-style gambling. Article 228 of the Turkish Penal Code punishes providing a place and means for gambling with one to three years in prison, and three to five years when the offence is committed through information systems.
Article 5 of Law No. 7258 lists what is punished when it is done without that authority:
| Act | Penalty | Article 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Running sports betting or games of chance, or providing a place or means for them | 3 to 5 years in prison and a judicial fine of up to 10,000 days | (a) |
| Enabling access from Turkey, over the internet or otherwise, to betting run abroad | 4 to 6 years in prison | (b) |
| Intermediating money transfers connected with such betting | 3 to 5 years in prison and a judicial fine of up to 5,000 days | (c) |
| Encouraging people to play, by advertising or otherwise | 1 to 3 years in prison and a judicial fine of up to 3,000 days | (ç) |
| Playing | Administrative fine of 5,000 to 20,000 lira | (d) |
How is the ban enforced?
Along four lines, and advertising is one of them:
- Advertising is named in the statute. Article 5(ç) covers whoever encourages people to play «reklam vermek ve sair surette» — by placing advertising or in any other way. The person who places the ad is inside the article, not only the operator behind the product.
- Access blocking. Article 5 applies the blocking provisions of Law No. 5651, whose article 8 lists both the Law No. 7258 offences and Penal Code article 228. A block is ordered by a judge, a court or, in urgent cases, a prosecutor, and can be ordered ex officio by the head of the Cybersecurity Presidency (Siber Güvenlik Başkanlığı), which took over this role from the telecom regulator BTK on 31 July 2026 under Law No. 7590. A decision has to be carried out within four hours of notification.
- Scale. At the action-plan monitoring meeting of 22 January 2026, chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, it was reported that access had been blocked to 548,420 illegal betting and online gambling sites between 2006 and 2025 — 232,899 of them in 2024 and 84,585 in 2025 — and that blocking decisions were also applied to social media platforms and messaging apps (NTV).
- Money. Article 5(c) makes moving the money a crime of its own. Presidential Circular 2025/18, published in the Resmî Gazete of 1 November 2025, adopted the Action Plan against Illegal Betting, Games of Chance and Gambling in the Virtual Environment (2025–2026), prepared and coordinated by MASAK, the Financial Crimes Investigation Board; advertising and promotion rules are one of its seven priority areas.
Since 2022 Spor Toto can also file directly with the public prosecutor and join the resulting cases as a party (article 5).
What do our own accounts show for Turkey?
A record of what ran, dated, and nothing more. 145 gambling campaigns in our accounts targeted Turkey alone: 362,777 impressions at a 3.02% click-through rate, leaving out campaigns with a rate above 25%. 28.3% of those campaigns carry a Declined status — the highest decline rate we record for any country (3 October 2026). For scale: 8.2% of all gambling campaigns in our accounts were declined (727 of 8,840), against 4.9% for every other niche.
A decline is a moderation outcome under Telegram’s rules. It is not a ruling on Turkish law, and an approved campaign is not one either.
For advertisers outside gambling, these are the prices we measure for Turkey — single-country campaigns, all niches:
| Account type | CPM | CTR | Cost per click | Impressions | Accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Euro (billed in EUR, 3 Oct 2026) | €2.92 | 0.87% | €0.337 | 874k | 8 |
| TON (prices in TON, 22 Aug–3 Oct 2026) | 0.42 TON | 3.61% | 0.012 TON | 3.5M | 10 |
TON prices stay in TON and are not converted to euros. We publish no gambling-only price for Turkey. Across all countries, gambling-titled campaigns on our TON accounts cost 0.86 TON per thousand impressions (4,606 campaigns, 11.8M impressions); the Euro base — €412 of spend on 174k impressions — is too thin to price from. Other markets are in measured CPM by country, and Turkey as a whole in the Telegram Ads in Turkey guide.
Should I run gambling ads to Turkey on Telegram?
Not unless you hold the authority Turkish law requires. Two separate sets of rules apply.
Turkish law. Encouraging people to play unauthorised betting, by advertising or otherwise, is a crime under article 5(ç) of Law No. 7258. Nothing in that clause turns on how the ad is worded; how a court reads a particular creative is a question for Turkish counsel, not for a media plan.
Telegram’s own rules. §5.6 of the ad guidelines reads: “Ads must not promote online or offline gambling, gaming, or casino-based activities involving real money, prizes, or goods of any value.” Its examples name sports betting, lotteries, bingo and fantasy sports, as well as tips, odds and forecasts (wording checked on 3 October 2026).
Two things follow for a media buyer:
- Moderation is not clearance. An ad platform reviews the ad text and the destination against its own rules. It does not check Turkish law, and an approved ad gives you no legal cover.
- The responsibility is the advertiser’s. Compliance with the law of the country you target sits with you — not with the platform and not with an account provider. We do not verify licences, and opening an account does not approve any ad.
Where do the two gambling formats fit?
We open gambling accounts in two formats. An official gambling account, ad budget from €25,000: your own creatives pass Telegram moderation and run as written, and you get access to ads.telegram.org and the Pro Panel. A test launch on our infrastructure, ad budget from €5,000: the ad texts are ours, our manager launches the campaigns, and you work in the Pro Panel only. Both open in 2 business days.
Both target by country, and neither changes Turkish law. Which countries belong in your geo list is decided by the law of each country and by the authorisations you hold, not by the account format. The rules behind both formats are in the gambling policy guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I legally advertise a casino or sportsbook to Turkey?
Only with the authority Turkish law requires. Law No. 7258 reserves sports betting to Spor Toto, and its article 5 makes offering unauthorised betting, enabling access to betting run abroad, moving its money and advertising it criminal offences. Status as of 3 October 2026.
What is the penalty for advertising unauthorised betting in Turkey?
One to three years in prison and a judicial fine of up to 3,000 days, under article 5(ç) of Law No. 7258, for encouraging people to play by advertising or otherwise.
Who blocks betting sites in Turkey?
Blocks are ordered under article 8 of Law No. 5651 by a judge, a court or a prosecutor, or ex officio by the head of the Cybersecurity Presidency, which took over this role from the BTK on 31 July 2026. Access was blocked to 548,420 illegal betting and online gambling sites between 2006 and 2025, according to the figures reported at the January 2026 monitoring meeting.
What decline rate do gambling campaigns targeting Turkey see?
In our accounts, 28.3% of the 145 gambling campaigns targeting Turkey carry a Declined status — the highest decline rate we record for any country — on 362,777 impressions at a 3.02% click-through rate (3 October 2026). Across all gambling campaigns the rate is 8.2%.
What does Turkey cost on Telegram for advertisers outside gambling?
On our Euro accounts, single-country Turkey campaigns in all niches measured €2.92 CPM, 0.87% CTR and €0.337 per click (874k impressions, 8 accounts, 3 October 2026). On TON accounts: 0.42 TON per thousand impressions, 3.61% CTR and 0.012 TON per click (3.5M impressions, 10 accounts, 22 August–3 October 2026).
Does Telegram’s ad moderation check Turkish law?
No. Moderation reviews the ad text and the destination against Telegram’s own guidelines, which prohibit gambling promotion in §5.6. An approval is not a legal opinion, and compliance with the law of the target country is the advertiser’s responsibility.
This page states the law as we read it on 3 October 2026, with every source linked so you can check each line; it is not legal advice. For other markets that closed, see the Brazil guide and the India guide. Questions about Telegram Ads accounts go to @adsly_pro.
