Sci Games consortium secures $2.8bn Turkish lottery contract
GTECH edged out as consortium including Net Sans and Scientific Games selected as preferred bidder
Net Holding has been awarded a ten-year licence to operate Turkey’s national lottery Milli Piyango after a consortium including Net Sans and US gaming supplier Scientific Games bid US$2.8bn (£1.6bn) for the contract.
Net Sans, a division within Net Holding’s hotel, casino and lottery management business, beat offers from two rival consortia from GTECH along with Czech investment groups KKCG and Emma Delta and Turkey’s ERG-Ahlatci.
The successful bid, which was lodged ahead of the 27 June closing date, has been part funded by Turkish corporate venture capitalist group Hitay Investment Holdings.
The selection of Net Holding will now be put before Turkey’s privatisation and competition boards as well as the high court for final clearance, however, the group’s CFO Orlando Kalumenos was already looking ahead to improve the lottery’s online presence.
“We will make a very successful business with our partner Hitay investment,” Kalumenos told Turkish news agency Anadolou. “We will provide a better service by using technology, particularly the internet and mobile devices, in line with our responsibility,” he added.
In order to improve the lottery systems, Net Holding has teamed up with New York-based Scientific Games, which has advised on more than 100 lotteries worldwide.
If granted, the licence will be based on a revenue share basis with the operator set to gain 25% of annual lottery revenues after VAT and 28% of all other revenues.
The closing of the deal would mark the end to the long-running lottery privations process after an unsuccessful tender process in 2009 at which time bidders failed to meet the minimum $1.6bn price tag.