Lottery operator has filed a formal protest with the Illinois Department Of Revenue after losing out on ten-year management contract.
Tuesday 28th September 2010
In America, lottery operator Camelot Illinois has filed a formal protest with the Illinois Department Of Revenue over the recent awarding of a ten-year management contract for the Illinois Lottery to Northstar Lottery Group.
Northstar is a joint venture between leading gaming technology and services firm GTECH Corporation and fellow American lottery company Scientific Games Corporation and was awarded a contract two weeks ago to handle the day-to-day operations of the Illinois Lottery including games development, the supply of goods and services and marketing and advertising from July of next year.
“When the Illinois Legislature decided to bring in a private manager to improve the Illinois Lottery, they envisioned selecting a manager with a strong track record of innovation and success and a strong history of social responsibility,” read a statement from Camelot Illinois.
“A manager that is free from conflicts and a manager that is fully capable of making the Lottery less regressive. In essence, a fresh but proven approach. We strongly believe that our bid reflected these goals both financially and conceptually.
“We are disappointed that the state chose to perpetuate the status quo rather than enacting the real and meaningful change the Lottery needs and the Legislature wanted. We respectfully disagree with this decision and believe it does a disservice to the state, the taxpayers and the people who play the Illinois Lottery.”
Camelot Illinois believes that the state breached several lottery and procurement laws in awarding the management contract to Northstar while also violating the Department of Revenue’s own request for proposal. It claimed that these breaches included the failure of the bidding process to create a competitive environment alongside the practice being unevenly skewed towards existing vendors and unequal access to information.
