Turkish National Lottery to be Privatized

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Privatization has approved giving operating rights of the National Lottery to a private consortium.

Under Turkish gambling laws, national lottery body Milli Piyango was the only entity entitled to sell lottery tickets in the country. But this changed recently, after the Supreme Board of Privatization agreed to allow the Net Şans-Hitay consortium to run the business.

According to local gambling news, the company won the tender bid on July 15, gaining rights to run the lottery for up to 10 years. The license will be granted on a revenue-share basis, with the planned share being 25% of the revenue gained from lottery sales. The percentage will be calculated after the deduction of the value-added tax.

For all other types of revenues, the government will get a 28% share.

New online and mobile services

The national lottery is making over 2.2 billion Turkish liras in sales every year. The money comes from both its online and retail operations, as the only legal online gambling sites in Turkey are those belonging to the state lottery and sports betting company.

Orlando Kalumenos, Net Holding’s chief financial officer said in a statement: “We will provide a better service by using technology, particularly the Internet and mobile devices, in line with our responsibility.”