International Game Technology and Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) last week confirmed that they are in talks to end the fight over Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo’s proposal to award a no-bid 20-year Lottery contract to IGT.
The two companies have been locked in verbal combat for months over the $1 billion contract, which the governor first proposed and Twin River challenged once it reached the legislature.
Recently, a Providence Journal reporter saw executives of the two companies talking together outside the governor’s policy office. They were IGT’s Chief Operating Officer Jay Gendron and Twin River Executive Vice President Marc Crisafulli, who runs the company’s Rhode Island casinos. They declined to comment on why they were there, but later, Senate President Dominick Ruggerio confirmed that he had met with the two and was hopeful of a deal.
IGT spokesman Bill Fischer told a reporter, “I can confirm that IGT has been in ongoing discussions with Twin River. I do not have any substantive updates for you on that front this evening.” Twin River issued a similar statement.
The governor’s office was silent on a possible rapprochement. Raimondo put together the no-bid, 20-year $1 billion Lottery contract and presented it to the legislature, only to see a considerable blowback led by Twin River, hotly contended House and Senate Finance Committee hearings and a bipartisan demand for a study to see if the deal made sense for the state.
Twin River has asked for the chance to bid on the contract, and offered a deal that was more lucrative than the one IGT signed. TRWH is mainly concerned about a provision that gives IGT the right to supply 85 percent of the slots used by the two Twin River casinos. TRWH claims that machines from other manufacturers are better performers.
IGT is skeptical about Twin River’s ability to manage the Lottery contract. It also reminded the state that if it loses the contract, 1,000 IGT employees working in Rhode Island will be unemployed.
Last month IGT Chairman Robert Vincent told the Journal, “We look forward to a continuation of the legislative review process. It is important to note that our internal planning process to consolidate operations continues to intensify. We hope that the legislation will be acted on in a timely manner when the legislature reconvenes.”
Meanwhile, the independent study of the IGT proposal that the legislature commissioned is expected to be delivered next week.
