[REVISION HISTORY]

North Macedonia State Lottery contract controversy

Updated 3 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-09-10 12:52 UTC → 2026-09-11 10:07 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The North Macedonian State Lottery has faced scrutiny regarding its contract with the company Avalon to organize celebrations for the 35th anniversary of national independence. To fulfill the contract, the Lottery issued a public call for offers under the Law on Sponsorship and Donations, a process that allowed it to bypass standard public procurement systems. Avalon, through its company Stardust, was the only entity to respond to the call, which required ‘A-class’ international artists. Following the contract award, the political party Levica alleged financial mismanagement and favoritism. The party highlighted a payment of 1,850,610 denars made to Stardust DOOEL in February, noting that the company was selected as the sole candidate for the independence program only two months later. Levica further claimed the State Lottery has been used as a political tool, citing various payments to influencers and associations linked to relatives of security personnel and former advisors. In response to ongoing questions regarding the transparency of these contracts, government spokesperson Marija Miteva clarified that no state budget funds were used for the festivities. She stated that the 300 million denars used for the events, which included a performance by David Guetta, were sourced from the State Lottery’s undistributed profits from 2024. Political tensions have since expanded to include broader economic disputes. While Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reported that foreign direct investment has reached approximately 1.4 billion euros over the last 24.5 months, opposition leaders from SDSM have challenged the government's economic narrative. The SDSM accused the administration of increasing public debt by roughly 4 billion euros in two years and reiterated demands for transparency regarding the use of the approximately 5 million euros in lottery profits for the independence celebrations.

Versions

Only revisions since CLSTR began indexing content versions appear here. Select a version to see what changed compared to the one before it.