UPDATED: Twin River CEO Secretly Proposed a New No-Bid, 20 Year, $6 Billion Contract
GoLocalProv News Team
UPDATED: Twin River CEO Secretly Proposed a New No-Bid, 20 Year, $6 Billion Contract
The proposal came in a letter sent to Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello on June 24, 2019.
Over the past few weeks, Twin River has complained about the contract extension that Governor Gina Raimondo had negotiated with IGT, the state's lottery infrastructure vendor.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I am committed to a public hearing where all the aspects of the proposed IGT contract will be assessed in the best interests of Rhode Island’s taxpayers. It will be a fair, open and transparent process,” said Mattiello in an email to GoLocal.
Read the Letter Below
“Twin River’s executives are redefining hypocrisy. While they mislead the public about an important economic development package, their CEO is secretly lobbying the General Assembly for a $6 billion, 20-year, no-bid extension that goes well beyond the scope of his company’s capability. Twin River isn’t fighting on behalf of taxpayers or local Rhode Island families: they’re fighting for their hedge fund owners and Wall Street backers," said Paul Tencher, spokesperson for Keeping Jobs in Rhode Island, Inc.
"Twin River asked the legislature for a $6 billion payout without any ability to actually run the technology for a lottery system. Why would anyone trust a hospitality company like Twin River to run the state’s third-largest revenue stream, especially when the world’s leading lottery technology company already has its U.S. headquarters and more than 1,000 jobs in Rhode Island?" said Tencher.
According to Keeping Jobs in Rhode Island, Twin River received $281 million from the State of Rhode Island last year to manage the casino properties.
In spring of 2017, Twin River executed an amendment to their no-bid 2005 contract granted by the General Assembly under the Gaming Act of 2016.
The new amendment extended its original 2005 contract with the State of Rhode to operate the Lincoln casino until July 2030 and the Tiverton casino until November 2030.
Read the Letter Below
June 24, 2019
The Honorable Nicholas A. Mattiello
Speaker of the House of Representatives
Rhode Island State House, Room 323
Providence, RI 02903
Dear Speaker Mattiello,
In my capacity as the Chief Executive Officer of Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. (“TRWH”) and with the express approval of the TRWH Board of Directors, I hereby make the following offer to the State of Rhode Island:
In the event that IGT withdraws its 1000 employees from Rhode Island and ceases to provide lottery and gaming services because it did not receive its proposed 20-year extension of its Master Contract, TRWH will pay to the State a one-time license fee of $125,000,000 immediately upon the execution of a legally authorized and binding contract. In addition, TRWH or its affiliates or partners will create or move 1,000 incremental jobs to Rhode Island from other states or countries, at the required compensation levels, by 2023 to hold the State harmless from any employment losses suffered as a result of IGT’s departure. In exchange for these commitments, TRWH shall receive all of the benefits and provisions of the proposed 20-year proposal contract [sic] that IGT was pursuing and shall receive an extension of its current Master Contract for the same term.
We are extremely confident in our ability to deliver the required services through a partnership with IGT’s competition and will enter into such partnership agreement within 30 days of notification that the State wishes to proceed with this offer.
In the event the State decides to administer a public procurement process to ensure it secures the best possible deal for the taxpayers of Rhode Island, TRWH will aggressively compete for the business through a consortium or partnership it will create with technology partners. We are certain that the benefits and outcomes for the State will far exceed the current IGT proposal and we look forward to exploring this further.
Warmest regards,
George Papanier
CEO & President
Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc.
Twin River's Response
Twin River's spokesperson Patti Doyle said, "It’s too bad the new spokesman for the group formed to help secure a no-bid, billion dollar, 20-year, secret deal for IGT has no understanding of the facts."
"He might have missed our previous disclosures on the issue which were these: Twin River asked the Raimondo Administration to bid the existing IGT contract - which doesn’t expire for another 4 years - only to have those requests be ignored. When we realized the Administration was intent on pursuing the secret, no bid path, to the absolute detriment of the Rhode Island taxpayer - we committed to make the state whole with respect to promised jobs and revenue. We also said at that time that we would form a consortium/partnership with other entities to openly, transparently bid on the contract. At no time did Twin River claim it would do so alone," Doyle.
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