Turkey completes bidding process for national lottery

The Turkey entity in charge of the bidding process for the national lottery said that Sisal-Sans presented the best offer.

Turkey.- The entity that holds the rights of the National Lottery, the Sovereign Wealth Fund (TVF) has revealed that the bidding process for the Milli Piyango lottery has been completed. The TVF said that Turkish-Italian Sisal-Sans joint venture presented the best bid.

The TVF said in a statement that Sisal-Sans had offered a bid of US$1.69 million for the operating rights of the national lottery, starting in 2020. General Manager Zafer Sönmez said earlier this year that they were considering transferring the operating rights for a 10-year period.

The government created the TVF, which is worth US$50 billion, back in 2016. The goal was to develop and increase the value of Turkey’s strategic assets and provide resources for investment.

Turkey aims to raise the lottery’s annual revenues from 0.1% of the gross national product (GNP), from 1% to 2%. “Our perspective is about how we can create the maximum value. We want to increase our income to over 1% by not selling the business. It has the potential to rise by up to 10 times.”

A Czech operator also showed interest

Czech Sazka Group, one of the leading sports betting and lottery operators in Europe, had announced last month that it would bid for the Turkish National Lottery tender. Sazka Group currently operates in the Czech Republic, Greece, Cyprus, Austria and Italy.