Lottery sales rise 14.3 percent in 2011

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

The traditional New Year Lottery attracts 68 pct of annual lottery ticket sales. Hürriyet photo

The 2011 sales income of the General Directorate of the National Lottery rose by 14.3 percent, exceeding 2.13 billion Turkish Liras, in annual comparison.

The directorate distributed 898.8 million liras of the total sales in prizes, according to the board’s annual report. The directorate oversees the Sayısal Loto, Piyango, Süper Loto, Şans Topu, Hemen Kazan and On Numara chance games. The sales volumes for all these games have grown, according to the report.

Hemen Kazan recorded the highest income increase with 32.9 percent. Lottery tickets (Piyango)
registered a 13.7 percent income increase, while income from number games rose 13.2 percent. The directorate pocketed the highest sales income from number games. Turkish citizens bet 1.4 billion liras on number games last year. The figure was 489.5 million liras for lottery tickets, and 111.9 million liras for Hemen Kazan.

Some 92.5 million lottery tickets were printed last year, more than 71.5 million of which were sold. The share of the total income generated from lottery tickets was 24 percent.

The traditional New Year lottery attracted the most attention. Some 68 percent of the income from annual lottery ticket sales was registered during the New Year’s lottery draw.

The directorate has recorded a 37 percent sales income increase, amounting to more than 8.9 billion liras, in the last five years. About 3.93 billion of that income has been distributed in prizes.