The privatization of the state-owned Turkish national lottery, Milli Piyango, has been cancelled after the final two bidders, OPAP+ and Turkcell+, failed to match the US$ 1.62 billion valuation set for the lottery by the tender commission. When Greece’ Intralot backed out off the Milli Piyango privatization process, it should have been a wake up call for Turkish Privatization Administration, or ÖİB.

On January 6, 2009, the Privatization Administration made an Amendment Announcement for the privatization of the Turkish National Lottery, by granting the license for a 10-year period. The pre-qualification submission deadline was laid down for February 16, 2009. Games of Chance Data Room and Data Site application deadline was delayed to March 2, 2009 and the Games of Chance Data Room and Data Site access had to be changed from March 6 to March 30, 2009.

Ankara (Reuters) – Turkey’s Privatisation Administration (OIB) said on Monday it received five bids in the pre-qualification stage of a tender for the privatisation of national lottery company Milli Piyango. The Turkish government’s privatisation process has taken a hit as investors largely stay on the sidelines due to the global financial crisis. The following are the firms bidding for Milli Piyango in the pre-qualification stage:

Representative of Party Nueva Alianza, Miguel Ángel Jiménez Godínez, requested an authorization to be off work last week, with the aim to incorporate to the federal government, to lead the National Lottery, confirmed governmental sources. Jiménez Godínez will be the new general director of the institution replacing Francisco Yáñez. Miguel Ángel Jiménez was coordinator of the group of political party Nueva Alianza in the Parliament until April 2008.

General manager of National Lottery, José Francisco Peña Guaba, revealed that, according to several investigations, USD 8,624,057 are bet daily in Dominican Republic. He explained that a study performed by the biggest gaming company reveals that “Dominican Republic is the second country worldwide that gambles the most.” Interviewed during the act of awards to the Worthy Soldier and Official…

The National Lottery of Charity and Health (Lonabol) will control gambling venues in Bolivia. Until the end of the year, it will have a regulation that will rule the issuance of casino licenses through a tender process, so it may control and prevent the proliferation of this entertainment centers. Executive director of Lonabol, Marco Antonio Cárdenas, who said that Bolivia has to allow an activity that is legal in other countries…

Gambling venues have proliferated in the country, and a proof of that is that Bolivia National Lottery (Lonabol) received an average of an application license every two days. In the last 36 days, it received 20 applications, according to the legal director of the institution, Rafael Amador. “We did not pass them because they did not comply with the requirements. People believe that it is just to present a letter, but more documents are needed.” He assured.

In the UK, a study from the Gambling Commission has found that the proportion of adults participating in remote forms of gambling has remained static at 8.8 % for the year despite the lifting of restrictions on advertising. The Commission is the regulatory body for all forms of gambling in the UK and the findings came following a national representative sample survey of 8,000 people conducted by ICM research.