National Lottery system crashes hours before the New Year: Dealers unable to get tickets

Paşa Çakmak, President of the İzmir National Lottery and Games of Chance Chamber, stated that the tickets would end up on the black market, saying, "Thousands of tickets will be claimed to be inside and will be destroyed." While Yasemin Zeytinli, who sells lottery tickets, said she lost 5-6 thousand liras in one day, Paşa Çakmak, President of the İzmir National Lottery and Games of Chance Chamber, said, "By this evening, it will even fall into the black market."

"THOUSANDS OF LIRAS IN LOSSES"

Yasemin Zeytinli, who has been selling national lottery tickets for 32 years, stated that not being able to sell quarter tickets meant thousands of liras in losses for her and said the following:

“This is the first time I have experienced something like this this year. We went at 07:00 in the morning to buy tickets. They didn't give them to us, saying the ‘system is faulty.’ Yesterday, messages came to our phones saying, ‘You can buy tickets until 12:00.’ Today, we were victimized. We were going to make money today; today is New Year's Eve. I was going to buy a thousand tickets. We have customers who buy 100. We sent everyone away today. All my friends are in this situation. I have been a dealer for 32 years and this is the first time I have seen such a disgrace. I only have 14 full tickets. People don't buy them because they are expensive. The quarter tickets currently on hand will also fall into the black market. Maybe a thousand people came and left today for quarter tickets. My loss today is at least 5-6 thousand liras.”

"IT WILL FALL INTO THE BLACK MARKET"

Paşa Çakmak, President of the İzmir National Lottery and Games of Chance Chamber, stated that the tickets would fall into the black market and spoke as follows:

“Our dealers deposit money into the bank by increasing their limits, and in return, they buy tickets. They made the limit increase, they went, and the system didn't work. They said, ‘The system has crashed.’ They didn't give tickets to the dealers. Thousands of tickets will be claimed to be inside and will be destroyed. If these had been put on the market, nearly 40 percent in taxes would have gone to the state. The state was victimized here, our members could not earn money. Our citizens were victimized. 90 percent of the dealers were victimized. By this evening, it will even fall into the black market. A ticket might be sold for 300-400 liras, or even 500 liras. All of these will be tickets that will be torn up. Currently, the dealer has neither money nor goods because they couldn't buy any.”

"NO ONE WILL GET AWAY WITH WHAT THEY HAVE DONE"

Stating that they want those responsible to find a solution, Çakmak expressed the following:

“Dealers had come from Aydın, Manisa, and all Aegean provinces. They all incurred travel expenses, they made limit increases, they came to İzmir. Then they couldn't buy tickets. We want to learn the reason for this victimization. Isn't it a shame for our nation's money? Whoever is at fault here must be held accountable. We cannot accept this. We will also resort to legal channels if necessary regarding this. In other words, no one will get away with what they have done. The money lost by this country is our money. It is our country's money. Why should the dealers be victimized? There is a huge loss. Right now, a dealer has sold 2 thousand tickets. Each ticket is 150 liras. There are those who sell 10 thousand tickets on the last day. That ticket remained there too. Who will solve this victimization of ours? We want a solution.”