Turkey Expands AI Use in Fight Against Illegal Betting

Turkey is preparing to expand the use of artificial intelligence in its fight against illegal betting and online gambling, with a new system designed to identify websites and networks that frequently change domains, infrastructure and payment methods.

The plan was discussed at a coordination meeting chaired by Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, where authorities also reviewed payment systems, suspicious accounts, bulk SMS activity, advertising and possible new legislation. The wider strategy moves beyond simply blocking websites and increasingly targets the financial and technical infrastructure that keeps illegal operators running.

How Will Turkey Use AI Against Illegal Betting?

Yılmaz said existing detection methods should be strengthened with AI and data analytics because illegal platforms can change their web addresses and technical infrastructure within a short period.

Turkey is already using similar technology. Law-enforcement and regulatory bodies including the police, gendarmerie, MASAK and BTK have been using machine learning, network analysis and automated scanning tools in investigations linked to illegal betting.

These systems can analyse similarities between websites, including design structures, code patterns, IP connections and links between different domains. If an illegal platform reappears under a new address after being blocked, those similarities can help authorities identify it more quickly.

The next step is expected to bring these capabilities into a broader shared detection system supported by data from multiple public institutions.

AI Is Also Being Used to Track Money

Artificial intelligence is not limited to identifying betting websites. Turkish authorities are also using data-analysis tools to examine large volumes of financial transactions.

In a major investigation launched from Gaziantep in July, around 3.1 million transactions were analysed with an AI-assisted system. The review helped identify hundreds of suspects and linked accounts, while the total transaction volume examined exceeded TRY 84 billion.

MASAK has also focused on electronic money institutions, virtual POS systems, third-party bank accounts and cryptocurrency transfers connected to suspected illegal betting activity.

This part of the crackdown could prove more difficult for operators to bypass than domain blocking. A new website can be launched quickly, but replacing bank accounts, payment channels and trusted money-transfer networks requires more time and organisation.

Can Website Blocking Stop Illegal Betting?

Turkey has blocked hundreds of thousands of betting and gambling domains over the past two decades, but illegal operators have continued to return under new addresses.

The main weakness of website blocking is the low cost of changing domains. A platform can move its content, customer accounts and services to a new address shortly after the previous one is restricted.

AI can shorten the time needed to find these replacements. At the same time, illegal operators can also use automation and generative tools to create new domains, redesign websites and build new redirect systems.

The result is an ongoing technological contest rather than a permanent solution based on website blocking alone.

What Has Happened in Denmark?

Denmark provides a useful example of how effective website restrictions can be.

After the Danish Gambling Authority blocked 178 illegal gambling websites in June 2025, traffic from Denmark to those sites fell by around 34% over the following six months.

However, operators also created near-identical copies of blocked websites under new domain names. Denmark responded by moving towards faster blocking of mirror sites, reducing the need to treat every replacement domain as an entirely new case.

Illegal gambling promotion has also increasingly appeared through closed channels such as Telegram and Discord, showing how quickly operators can move away from publicly visible websites.

Why Payment Systems Matter More

Illegal operators can replace domains repeatedly, but they still need a financial network to accept deposits and pay customers.

Turkey’s action plan therefore places increasing emphasis on suspicious bank accounts, electronic payment providers and other financial channels linked to illegal gambling activity.

Faster identification of high-risk accounts and disruption of payment flows can make it more expensive for operators to continue their business.

A similar approach is being used in the Netherlands, where regulators increasingly work with banks, payment service providers, hosting companies and advertising platforms instead of relying only on website enforcement.

Changing a domain can take minutes. Rebuilding payment infrastructure, advertising channels and customer-acquisition networks is much harder to repeat at the same speed.

Can a Stronger Legal Betting Market Reduce Illegal Play?

The other side of the issue is the competitiveness of Turkey’s legal betting market.

Research published by Turkey’s Interior Ministry has identified higher odds offered by illegal operators as one of the reasons some players move away from licensed platforms.

For bettors, access is only one part of the decision. Odds, live-betting options, market variety, payment experience and platform quality can all influence where they choose to play.

If the difference between legal and offshore products remains large, blocking individual websites does not remove the underlying demand. Some users will simply search for the next available address.

In sports betting, bringing legal products closer to international standards in areas such as pricing, live markets and product variety could reduce some of the incentives to use illegal alternatives.

Online casino gambling is a different issue. Turkey does not operate a licensed online casino market, so payment controls, advertising restrictions and access measures remain more important on that side of the industry.

Can AI Solve Turkey’s Illegal Betting Problem?

Artificial intelligence can improve the speed of detection and help authorities identify connections across millions of financial transactions, websites and accounts.

It cannot remove the technological race between regulators and illegal operators. The same tools that improve enforcement can also help operators create new websites, redirect systems and marketing channels more quickly.

For that reason, the success of the new strategy will not be determined simply by the number of blocked websites. Hundreds of domains may belong to the same operator, meaning a higher blocking count does not necessarily represent a proportional decline in illegal betting activity.

More meaningful indicators would include lower traffic to illegal platforms, reduced payment flows, longer recovery times for disrupted networks and a larger share of betting activity moving to licensed operators.

Turkey’s expanded AI system can strengthen detection, but longer-term results are likely to depend on a wider combination of financial enforcement, advertising controls, infrastructure disruption and a more competitive legal sports-betting market.