Inteltek establishes Turkish software development hub
Inteltek, the joint venture between Turkish telecommunications giant Turkcell and lottery and gaming solutions provider Intralot, is to open a new global development software centre in Turkey, with the aim of improving technologies in the mobile gaming market.
Inteltek said the new venture will have a significant impact in boosting both Turkey’s presence and competitiveness in the global gaming industry. The facility will employ 100 engineers, although its exact location is yet to be confirmed.
“Through this investment Inteltek aims to leverage the talent of Turkish youth for the creation and export of technology and software internationally and contribute towards the transformation of Turkey into a global center of excellence for software development,” the company explained.
Turkcell and Intralot established Inteltek in 2001, with Intralot holding a 45% stake in the venture, and Turkcell a 55% majority stake. In 2004, Inteltek was awarded rights for the exclusive operation of fixed odds betting and pari-mutual betting games on sporting events in Turkey by state gaming entity SporToto.
In the same year, Inteltek rolled out its iddaa sports betting brand in partnership with SporToto. It has helped grow SporToto's sports betting market share from 1% to 56% over the past 11 years, with turnover growing to $3.5bn (£2.7bn/€3.1bn).
Inteltek then signed a year-long extension to its contract to operate iddaa in August this year. The deal now runs until 2019, under the same terms as the 10-year contract agreed in 2008.
The company also in August reported its financial results for the first half of the year, during which sales at Inteltek totalled €19.5m (£17.3m/$22.2m), down from €21.6m in the same period last year. Intralot said this was heavily affected by local currency devaluation against the Euro.
Aside from Inteltek, Intralot also owns a 50.01% stake in Bilyoner, an online distributor of sports betting games. Bilyoner, along with five other online providers, distributes the games developed by Inteltek manages on behalf of SporToto.
Revenue at Bilyoner in the first half was up from €20.7m to €24.6m, pushing total revenue in Turkey to €44.1m in the six-month period, up from €42.4m in the previous year.