Famed Turkey lottery stand sells hope
ISTANBUL: Each year in the runup to the New Year draw, thousands of people flock to the most famous lottery stand in Istanbul, drawn by the promise on display: “Nimet Abla will make you win.”
For 90 years, the lottery booth has drawn many Turks, filled with hope in these troubled economic times, largely because it has convinced people that it is there that they have the best chance of winning.
Excited customers take selfies in front of the ticket counters in Eminonu district, close to one of the most beautiful Ottoman mosques in Istanbul, Yeni Cami.
A dozen security guards form a cordon around the stall to stop queue jumpers, redirecting them to the end of the queue, which extends for several hundreds of metres.
With a waiting time of up to three or four hours at the weekend, ticket buyers have to be patient. Luckily for Kemal, he has plenty of it.
“I’ve been trying my luck with Nimet Abla for 50 years,” the retiree said. “I have never won ... for now.”
Nimet Abla, which means “Big Sister Nimet” in Turkish, owes its name and fortune to founder Melek Nimet Ozden.
A formidable entrepreneur, she ruled over the lottery world for half a century after selling her first ticket in 1928.
Following her death in 1978, her nephew, who is today called Nimet Abi (“Big Brother Nimet”), took over the business.
“We sell more and more tickets each year,” Nimet Abi, 64, said, adding that they sold three million tickets last year, “a tenth of all lottery tickets in Turkey”.
Nimet Abla has two other ticket outlets in Istanbul, to which customers flock from all over Turkey.
This year, the New Year jackpot is worth 70 million Turkish lira (RM55mil). One ticket costs 70 lira (RM55), but there is also a “half-ticket” or even a “quarter of a ticket”.
In the last few days before the draw on Dec 31, the lines start as early as 6am and last until 11pm.
To stand out from the more than 15,500 authorised national lottery ticket sellers, Nimet Abla relies on its reputation as a lucky charm.
But not everyone has caught lottery fever. In this majority-Muslim country, there has been a growing expression of religious conservatism in recent years.
Last year, Turkey’s Diyanet religious affairs agency issued its opinion on the lottery, saying that although it was legal, it was haram – illicit from an Islamic point of view, like all gambling.
But the games of chance generate a lot of revenue for the Turkish state.
Last year, they brought in 1.4 billion lira (RM1.1bil), according to the Turkish national lottery body.
Nimet Abi is aware of the criticism, even if he thinks most people don’t share those views.
He himself tries his luck each year in the New Year lottery. But in any case, he added, as he looks out at the line of customers: “I already feel lucky enough as it is.”