A lottery operator is suing the state’s Lottery and Gaming Control Agency and its commission over a September vote against its $371 million bid, demanding the court declare the decision null and void and prohibit the agency from starting a new bid proposal process.
Scientific Games was awarded its current lottery contract in 2017. In September, the commission voted not to approve the company’s bid to stay in that role after Lottery staff had recommended its bid.
In addition to a bid protest filed in late September, the lawsuit filed Friday says in part that because the vote to deny Scientific Games the contract happened after allegedly violating the Open Meetings Act, the Anne Arundel County circuit court could void the decision.
The commission allegedly violated the Open Meetings Act in several ways, according to the suit, including by not putting the vote on Scientific Games’ contract on the agenda and by not giving the company information “to allow it to object to the closed session.”
The commission was in closed session for 95 minutes before the vote, the suit says.
“The Commission arbitrarily, capriciously, pretextually, without a scintilla of evidence, and with no finding of fact, in a four to three vote, denied the award to SCIENTIFIC GAMES, breached its representations and warranties, and failed to comply with written agreements,” according to the lawsuit.
Scientific Games’ suit says it has brought $808 million more in sales over the state’s 2017 baseline, including more than $667 million in traditional lottery revenue in fiscal 2025 out of over $2.6 billion in total sales.
“It is not in the State’s best interests to reject SCIENTIFIC GAMES’ technically superior, fully conforming proposal that will provide services generating hundreds of millions of dollars of annual revenue for the State (believed to be more than the other proposals) based on a long history of solid performance,” the complaint says.
The complaint also contends the commission’s chair failed to disclose he had been in communication with a lobbyist for rival lottery contractor Intralot. The commission accepted Intralot’s $260.4 million bid in July and then disqualified it two weeks later.
Intralot, a Greek gaming company trying to take over Maryland’s lottery operations, previously said it had been disqualified because of assertions that it did not meet legal requirements around subcontracting with minority-owned businesses.
Scientific Games asked the court to declare that the lottery agency can’t cancel the existing bid request only to start a new one in order to circumvent the previous recommendation in the company’s favor.
Both Seth Elkin, a spokesperson for the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Agency, and one of Scientific Games’ attorneys declined to comment.
Intralot did not respond to inquiries from The Baltimore Sun by publication Saturday.
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