A Turkish study of digital gambling, run with the counselling service Yeşilay Danışmanlık Merkezi (YEDAM), concludes that gambling harm in the country has moved past personal choice into public health, regulation and financial integrity. Three linked datasets were analysed, covering 2020 to April 2025: more than 22,000 hotline calls, 14,458 first clinical assessments and 3,767 social service records, backed by in-depth interviews and consultations with policy experts.
The average age of those seeking treatment was 34.7. Men accounted for about 97% of cases, though the authors allow that women are likelier to be under-represented in therapy than absent from play. The peak falls in the 26-35 and 36-45 brackets. Some 83.7% hid their gambling from family, about 46% reported social isolation, and participants gambled during working hours. Gambling-related debt affected 84%, and 49.8% owed more than 100,000 TL ($2,033). Borrowing came mainly from family (52%) and banks (28%). Women more often paid with credit cards (37.1%), men with cash (58%).
The harm drivers named are constant platform access, frictionless payments and targeted design: bonuses and loyalty programmes, autoplay, fast spins, aggressive retargeting. Digital wallets, instant credit offers and payment chains outside the platform contributed. First exposure came most often through sports betting, but the study notes a shift towards casino games. High-risk occupations include security, gig and night workers, and low-income self-employed.
The recommendations: tighter financial control with AI monitoring of transactions, coordination between MASAK, the banking regulator and law enforcement, deposit limits and wider use of self-exclusion. Digital advertising rules need updating, including a legal classification of 'indirect gambling promotion'. Operators are asked to go beyond formal compliance with ad rules towards product management focused on consumer harm. Last month police moved against illegal betting networks in eight provinces, with suspicious transactions worth 17.75 billion TL passing through the accounts of 177 suspects. Interior minister Mustafa Çiftçi put the country's annual losses to illegal gambling at $40 billion.
