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Ohio: Intralot

June 1, 2009 - 01:24 pm
NEWS FEED: Columbus Dispatch

Lottery chief's pledge at odds with reality

By James Nash

Now, as Dolan prepares to ask the same legislative panel to approve a $41 million contract with another company to run Keno and other lottery games for the next two years, the director's past dubious promises could return to haunt him.

On May 5, 2008, Dolan persuaded the state Controlling Board, a bipartisan panel of legislators that signs off on major contracts, to buy monitors, satellite dishes and computer terminals for Keno from GTECH Inc., which was the Lottery's prime vendor at the time.

On the instructions of Gov. Ted Strickland's top lawyer, Dolan has testified, he did not tell the legislators that he was in the process of dumping GTECH in favor of another company, and that the new company might not be able to use the equipment the state was about to buy.

Read More at Columbus Dispatch >
There have been 75 comments posted in response to this story.

June 1, 2009 - 01:24 pm
NEWS FEED: Columbus Dispatch

Thomas Suddes: Easy money from slots could prove enticing to legislators

By Thomas Suddes

Example: The slot machine fight. Contrary to folklore, that's no more about morals than is personal marijuana use (de facto legal in Ohio) and, among consenting adults, anything-goes sexual conduct (legal in Ohio since the mid-1970s).

The slots fight is really over (1) who gets richer, thanks to General Assembly decisions and (2) whether schools, if slots became legal, ever again could pass property-tax levies. Schools can't want levies to become harder to pass. And levies aren't going away. But legalizing slots might make levies a tougher sell - as the Ohio Lottery might have done.

As everyone "knows," the Ohio Lottery was "supposed to take care of" schools.

Read More at Columbus Dispatch >
There have been 39 comments posted in response to this story.

March 12, 2009 - 06:41 am
NEWS FEED: Columbus Dispatch

Lottery panel's vendor switch OK, judge rules

By Mark Niquette

The decision by Judge John F. Bender means the commission can proceed with using Intralot SA instead of longtime vendor Gtech to offer Mega Millions, Pick 3, Keno and other online games starting July 1.

"I am grateful to Judge Bender for confirming what I always believed: that the entire process was always objective and fair," Lottery Director Michael A. Dolan said in a statement.

Dolan said Gtech has 30 days to appeal. A Gtech representative could not be reached for comment last night.

Tom Little, U.S. president of the Greece-based Intralot, said he was pleased by the ruling and that "everything is going quite well" with the transition to having his company take over the lottery games in July.

Read More at Columbus Dispatch >
There have been 26 comments posted in response to this story.