Board approves privatization of Turkish national lottery

ANKARA - Anadolu Agency

There are 15,356 sales offices of Milli Piyango across the country.

Turkey’s Supreme Board of Privatization has approved the privatization of the operating rights of the national lottery, Milli Piyango, to Net Şans-Hitay consortium for up to 10 years, according to a statement issued in the Official Gazette on Aug. 29.

The Net Şans-Hitay consortium won the tender bid on July 15 for the national lottery operating rights for up to 10 years. The license is planned to be granted on a revenue-share basis. The planned share is 25 percent of the annual revenue from lottery sales after the deduction of value-added tax and 28 percent for other revenues.

Turkey’s national lottery reached over 2.2 billion Turkish liras in sales revenue from its online and retail products in 2012. “We will make a very successful business with our partner Hitay’s investment,” Orlando Kalumenos, Net Holding’s chief financial officer said.

“We will provide a better service by using technology, particularly the Internet and mobile devices, in line with our responsibility.”

Separately, the privatization board also approved the privatization of the Derince Port in the northwestern Turkish province of İzmit to Safi Katı Yakıt Sanayi ve Ticaret, according to the Official Gazette on Aug. 29. Turkish State Railways previously had the operational rights of the port, and Safi Katı has secured the rights for 36 years.

Derince is one of the country’s main ports, with railway connections and dock facilities capable of servicing more than 1,000 ships annually.