Twin River Signs Camelot to Battle for RI Lottery Contract, IGT Calls Deal “Bright Shiny Object”

Twin River Signs Camelot to Battle for RI Lottery Contract, IGT Calls Deal “Bright Shiny Object”

Call it a Hail Mary. Twin River Management Group is trying desperately to wrestle the Rhode Island lottery contract away from IGT.

Presently, Twin River operates both the state’s casinos in Lincoln and Tiverton and faces tremendous competition from the new Encore casino in Boston. Twin River has been laying off workers over the past month. They also face investigations by both the Rhode Island Attorney General and the National Labor Relations Board.

Twin River said on Wednesday that they have signed up Camelot Lottery Solutions (Camelot), a United Kingdom-based lottery company as a partner to compete for the Rhode Island contract.

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The announcement was made just 24-hours before the first legislative hearing on the lottery contract. The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to start its first hearing on Thursday at 5 p.m. 

Twin River says the two combined companies have submitted to the offices of the Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President a competing proposal to IGT's to operate the State's lottery system that "provides 1,100 jobs backed by a $100 million guarantee, saves the State and its taxpayers approximately $500 million in fees, invests $75 million in development and improvements including a new 50,000 square foot corporate headquarters in the state, and would limit the control of the casino slot floor to the current state law of 50 percent."

IGT’s spokesperson Bill Fischer scoffed at the announcement and the timing.

“Neither Camelot nor Twin River has the expertise to manage the complex computer systems that support RI's lottery operations. In fact, IGT provides the technology to support Camelot’s lottery operations in the United Kingdom,” said Fisher.

“They have produced no plan or specifics to bring 1,100 jobs to Rhode Island or explain how they will replace IGT’s annual payroll of $111 million. Camelot states that they have 500 employees worldwide yet they are making a promise to bring 1,100 jobs to Rhode Island? None of this makes sense. This is a bright shiny object put forth by Twin River to distract everyone before the legislative hearings begin - nothing more,” added Fischer.

"We just received the letter from Twin River and Camelot and we have not yet studied or analyzed it, but we plan to do so.  The House Finance Committee will be conducting an open and thorough process and will give Twin River and Camelot the opportunity to testify should they want to.  The House encourages anyone who has perspective on the IGT proposal to testify at an upcoming hearing,” said Speaker Nick Mattiello in a statement.

 

Twin River's Big Promises

"We believed all along that Rhode Island would secure a much better deal through a competitive bid process and today's bid submittal demonstrates exactly that," said Marc Crisafulli, Executive Vice President of Twin River Worldwide Holdings, Inc. and President of Twin River Rhode Island

"As is evident, we have significantly improved upon the no-bid deal under consideration for IGT in many areas, notably in the shorter term, the lower fees to the State, meaningful investments in real estate development and a $100 million guarantee to secure 1,100 new jobs, all while matching every other element of the proposed IGT deal,” added Cristafulli.