Last year sales in the National Lottery amounted to an estimated USD 1.11 billion

Turkish government is planning to privatize the state-owned lottery Milli Piyango, with a ten year contract being granted to the winning bidder. The license will be awarded on a revenue sharing basis, with 20% of proceeds to go to the National Lottery Authority and the remaining 80% to go to the chosen operating company.

The operating company will be responsible for the distribution of all prize money as well as contributions to the state institutions. A timetable for the privatization is to be established in the next few days.

The tender for the lottery could see yet another contest between rivals Lottomatica subsidiary Gtech and Greek based Intralot, after the announcement last week that the US state of Ohio has put on hold its decision to award Intralot its state lottery contract, following a complaint from Gtech regarding the bidding process.

Other interest is likely to include Italy’s Sisal, Greece’s OPAP, Australia’s Tattersall, US based Scientific Games and Camelot, as well as Gtech and Intralot. Domestic companies including The Dogan Group, Cukurava Group and Is Yatirim will be among the Turkish companies that may be also involved in the tender.

Last year sales in the National Lottery amounted to an estimated USD 1.11 billion, a 12.6 increase on the previous year’s sales. Total prize money amounted to approximately USD 515.9 million, according to the Anatolia News Agency.