Turkey’s Erdoğan wins prize of unsold lottery tickets

Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund (TVF) gets the biggest share of the New Year lottery jackpot as only one person nets a quarter of the lottery jackpot, left-wing newspaper Birgün reported on Friday.

Turkey’s 2020 grand New Year lottery prize of 100 million liras ($12.7 million) was divided into four on Thursday evening after a quarter ticket emerged winning from the draw.

The prize of 25 million Turkish liras ($3.3 million) was won by ticket 9884757 from Manisa province. However, as the other quarter tickets remained unsold 75 million liras ($10 million) sum of three other quarter tickets will be transferred to the country’s sovereign wealth fund, Birgün said.

Earlier, Sisal-Sans, a Turkish-Italian joint venture which received the 2020 operating rights of the national lottery, announced the lottery would continue until the jackpot is won by a sold ticket, Birgün said. 

Established by the government in 2016 to develop and increased the value of Turkey’s strategic assets and provide resources for investment, the TVF is run by self-appointed chairman, Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan, who stepped into the role in September. The sovereign wealth fund is worth $50 billion. Erdogan's son-in-law and former finance minister Berat Albayrak stepped down from his vice-chair position after resigned from his position in November.