Tech and Biz Leaders Talk About Impact of IGT on RI Economy
GoLocalProv Business Team
Tech and Biz Leaders Talk About Impact of IGT on RI Economy
The press event was organized by the group Keeping Jobs in Rhode Island.
The business partners to IGT discussed how their businesses have grown because of relationships with existing, large companies like IGT, Hasbro, CVS and others.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLast month, an economic impact study from Edi Tebaldi, Ph.D. of Bryant University found that IGT’s presence in Rhode Island supports more than 2,400 Rhode Island jobs, including 1,100 direct IGT jobs and 1,300 indirect and induced jobs in the broader economy. Additionally, IGT generates approximately $330 million of economic activity in Rhode Island each year.
“I started Corvus Technologies in 2004 and have worked closely with GTECH/IGT that entire time,” said Mark Murtagh, managing partner of Corvus Technology Solutions in Cranston. “Small, veteran-owned businesses like mine count on strong, long-term relationships with larger companies. Too often in Rhode Island, we read more about those big companies moving out of state or choosing to be somewhere else. The fact is, IGT could set up its operations anywhere. They’re still here because 20 years ago the state smartly negotiated an employment mandate into their contract. The state now has an opportunity to continue that partnership for another 20 years. And they should because it’ll help secure and strengthen the state’s small business community that counts on its work with companies like IGT.”
“My father started our company nearly 30 years ago right here in Cranston. Our main office and lab are in Western Cranston, down the road from Orchard Farms Elementary School. IGT has been a customer for years, and our relationship with them has helped us expand and develop new business lines,” said Michael Sepe, COO of Electro Standards Lab in Cranston. “GTECH is Rhode Island’s most successful tech startup and they built a foundation for companies like ours and the current wave of start-ups. If IGT leaves Rhode Island, I am concerned that the progress our state has made to build a tech and innovation economy will be slowed down.”
In late June, Governor Gina Raimondo, House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello, and Senate President Dominick Ruggerio announced legislation – modeled on the existing long-term partnership – that guarantees IGT will keep at least 1,100 good-paying jobs and maintain its U.S. headquarters in Rhode Island. The proposal is subject to legislative approval and must be vetted publicly through the committee process.
On Tuesday, Raimondo's spokesman Josh Block told GoLocal, "We’re pleased the General Assembly is following through with their commitment to hold public hearings. Much of this information, including the terms of the proposed contract extension, has already been shared with the Speaker and Senate President and was incorporated into the legislation they introduced. We are happy to compile it into a single response letter and will respond by the requested date of August 30."
“IGT has over 1000 jobs in Rhode Island – a number of them filled by my former employees. Most of those jobs have absolutely nothing to do with Rhode Island’s lottery system. Most of them could easily be moved to another operation somewhere in Nevada or somewhere else. But they’re here, and we’ve got an opportunity to guarantee that they stay here. We can’t throw that away,” said Paul Hansen, founder and CEO of Millennium Consulting, located in South County. “I’m proud to have my company headquartered in Rhode Island, but if IGT were to leave, I don’t know if Millennium Consulting would stay in Rhode Island. It’d certainly be difficult to grow here. My message to the legislature is this: Please hold public, transparent hearings. Please review the proposal and consider the facts. Please take action to protect thousands of good jobs and local small businesses like mine. Please pass Senate Bill 1031 and House Bill 6266.”
Keeping Jobs in Rhode Island, Inc. supports legislation that was announced by Governor Raimondo, Speaker Mattiello and Senate President Ruggerio in late June to extend IGT’s lottery and gaming technology contract and the landmark economic development partnership that established Providence as the homegrown, global company’s U.S. headquarters in 2003.
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