Socrates Kokkalis has spoken.
The Greek magnate, chairman of both Greek betting company Intralot and Greek telecommunications giant Intracom, has his mind set on obtaining the Turkish National Lottery, Milli Piyango, and has assembled a Dream Team for transitioning the lottery into the 21st century.
Kokkalis has formed a powerhouse that includes Intralot, Ladbrokes and Malaysian company Tanjong Public Limited, which has business interests in property investment, power generation, liquefied petroleum gas, entertainment, travel and gaming (via Pan Malaysian Pools Sdn Bhd).
The partnership is particularly interesting in that it is collaboration between a cross-border Internet gambling company (Ladbrokes) and a member of the European Lotteries (Intralot). Such cooperation will once again stimulate the discussion within the EL as to whether it should say farewell to members that ignore the association's basic code of conduct, which, among other things, forbids "being a source of private profit."
Control of the lottery would give Intralot a hand in two of the country's three gambling sectors; the company already has a partnership with Turkish sports betting company Sportoto. The jockey club of Turkey, meanwhile, handles race betting. VLTs and casinos are not allowed at the moment, although the government has had discussions toward reintroducing casinos in tourism centers.
The privatization of the Milli Piyango will probably take place this year. More information on the privatization is available at www.gambling-privatisation.com.
Tanjong by the Numbers
Tanjong's Number Forecast Totalisator business ("NFO") segment in 2004 saw an impressive 9 percent increase in turnover from RM1.42 billion (US$387 million) to RM1.56 billion (US$425 million), registering what has been the segment's best performance since 1998. Its racing totalisator gross proceeds improved gradually, meanwhile, reporting a 6 percent increase for the year 2004 under review, from RM781 million (US$213 million) in the previous year to RM828 million (US$226 million). This was achieved through an additional 92 races being conducted in 2004. The group turnover increased by percent, or RM222 million (US$60.5 million), to RM2.68 billion (US$730 million) in 2004. Financials for 2005 are not available.