Scientific Games consortium wins Turkey sports betting tender

Turkey’s new sports betting management contract has been awarded to a consortium that includes Scientific Games Corporation.

Last month, Turkey’s government announced a tender for a 10-year contract to manage and expand the operations of the state-owned Iddaa-SporToto sports betting business. Among the criteria that interested bidders were asked to submit was how low a commission they intended to claim as their own.

On Wednesday, Turkish media reported that Sans Girism OGG, a consortium involving Scientific Games and local conglomerate Demirören Group – which is controlled by Turkish Football Federation chairman Yildirim Demirören – had submitted the lowest bid, expecting a mere 0.2% of sports betting revenue.

The next lowest bidder was the Inteltek partnership, which offered a 0.5% commission rate. Inteltek, which includes Greek lottery and betting giant Intralot and local telecom operator Turkcell, was awarded the previous 10-year SporToto contract in 2008, for which it received a 1.4% commission.