Earlier this year, the Bureau had awarded the six-year contract to a Greece-based company called Intralot. But the state's current vendor, Scientific Games, of Georgia, successfully got a state appeals panel to overturn the decision this month, on the basis that there were irregularities in how the applications were scored.
Now Intralot says it will appeal that decision. "Intralot has filed an appeal in Maine Superior Court, so they will contest the decision that the appeal panel rendered a couple weeks ago," says Mark Robinson, a spokesman for Intralot in Maine.
Robinson says the company was surprised by the appeal panel's decision to void its contract, given that it was the lowest bidder. The company says it would save the state $3.6 million should its contract be extended to 10 years.
"I know the new governor and his team are looking at ways to save money because of the budget crunches that we are facing, and so it seems to me that saving $3.6 million would be a welcome outcome for the people of Maine," Robinson says.
It's not clear now whether the state will reopen the bidding process or wait and see how the court acts.
Scientific Games says it would like to see the state start a new bidding process and that a legal challenge by Intralot will only complicate and confuse matters.
"Certainly, it would be, I think, far better if Intralot put its energy into a new bid, if it is interested in bidding again," says Charles Dingham, a lawyer with Preti Flaherty who successfully argued Scientific Games' appeal. Dingham says he's convinced that Scientific Games' bid would prevail in a second go-around.
He says the company has 30 years of experience working with the Maine lottery, and offers more innovative and dependable service. "To the extent that a a lottery vendor is creative, they may stimulate more sales of lottery tickets and revenue may go up," Dingham says. "Similarly, if a lottery vendor isn't reliable and the system is down for periods of time, that may negatively affect sales."
Scientific Games had argued in the appeal process that it had lost its bid because the scoring process had placed more emphasis on the size of a contract than on quality.
The ultimate winner of the contract will be in charge of providing the computer system needed to operate the lottery. That includes terminals at retail locations, and machines used to validate winning tickets, and service online games.
Lottery officials could not comment on their next step--even if they were going to reopen the bidding process. Tim Poulin, director of operations at the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages & Lottery, says that's because of the pending court challenge by Intralot. "I can just simply tell you because there's an ongoing appeal for this award."
Scientific Games's contract expires June 30. Poulin says that he expects that a contract will have been finalized by then, and that lottery players should not notice any change in the operation of the games.
The fierce competition between lottery companies is nothing new. Scientific Games and a third player, G-Tech, have dominated the scene for years. But Robinson says Intralot has been making recent inroads in the United States.
"And so the competition, and all the issues surrounding competition, have been ramping up," he says. "Competition is pretty fierce--which is good, ultimately, for the consumer."
Scientific Games and Intralot had a similar fight over the lottery contract in Vermont, which ultimately went to Intralot. Scientific Games has since argued that Intralot would export Maine lottery jobs to Vermont. But Intralot says it plans to maintain a presence in Maine. |
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