A sweetheart deal for International Game Technology—a no-bid, 20-year, $1 billion contract to supply the state lottery has landed Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) in hot water. The state Ethics Commission has voted to 
investigate the deal and, more specifically, the business relationship between Gov. Raimondo and former IGT chairman Donald R. Sweitzer, who is treasurer of the Democratic Governors Association (Raimondo is chair, and IGT and Twin River are very “george” donors). The Rhode Island code of ethics defines “business associate” as “a person joined together with another person to achieve a common financial objective,” which would seem to make Raimondo and Sweitzer guilty on the face of it. However, because the state GOP was focused on the Raimondo/Sweitzer relationship and not the seemingly untoward no-bid IGT, the commission will not be investigating that cozy bit of business.
Reacted state Republican Party Chairwoman Sue Cienki, “We are looking forward to the conclusion of their investigation, and in the meantime, we hope the Legislature does not vote on this 20-year, $1 billion contract extension until the Ethics Commission completes its investigation.” Raimondo’s lawyer, of course, said the claims had no merit. Like he was going to say otherwise. The commission has six months to investigate before either dismissing the complaint or holding a hearing upon its findings. Twin River is also an interested party, balking at the provision in the proposed deal that would juice IGT into 85% of Twin River’s Lincoln and Tiverton slot floors, as well it might. Raimondo says the deal was negotiated behind closed doors, which just makes it that much worse.
“I’m getting a little frustrated that there’s so many lobbyists, so much PR, radio ads, print ads – this really isn’t a game,” said Raimondo, deaf to irony. This is a big deal. It’s peoples’ lives. It’s $400 million of state revenue. Let’s 
have a public process, let’s have it vetted, let’s look at the facts. Let’s try to get the best deal we can for the people of Rhode Island.” IGT was politely threatening to close its Rhode Island plant, as part of a larger consolidation and the threat of shutdown was important leverage in negotiations with Raimondo. “That’s an interesting way to start a discussion, especially for a contract that goes for another four years,” said one detractor. Twin River put up $75 million, in what detractors say was a gambit for a no-bid contract of its own.
“To date, they have announced no formal partnership, unveiled no plan to produce 1,000 jobs and they have not provided any documentation on how they would replace IGT’s current payroll totaling $111 million,” fired back IGT. 
Twin River contends that IGT VLTs generate $56,400 apiece in taxes per year, compared to $87,800 and $66,200 from Scientific Games and Everi machines respectively. The Raimondo deal is also criticized for paying IGT $12.7 million a year in management fees when the same company receives $2.3 million a year from Massachusetts. “Massachusetts and Rhode Island have two entirely different systems and Massachusetts has hundreds of more workers on their state payroll to support its operations … [The] goal is to give the General Assembly enough pause to disrupt what has been a very successful partnership between the State of RI and IGT,” harrumphs the latter.
As for Raimondo, she is unashamed. “There’s only three companies in the world that do this, and only one of them is based in Rhode Island,” she said. “So, of course I want to fight for the local company. I’m not going to apologize for the fact that the local company is getting the business.” Key lawmakers no longer feel the same and Raimondo has noticed their backsliding. “I think if the legislature dilly-dallies and this thing blows up, 100 percent the company is out of here,” she warned. Which translates as, Do it my way. Or else.
* As The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas continues to primp for prospective buyers, the Vesper Bar is set to receive a makeover. Are any of the resort’s bars untouched from their original appearance?
* Scratch one bus service. The controversy-plagued Inland Streamliner, which connected to the Las Vegas area from its home base in Reno has gone belly-up. The cause? Blame the media. But patrons say “accusations of racist and discriminatory ridership policies, selling tickets for routes they could not guarantee were actually going to happen and abruptly canceling trips or changing pickup/drop-off locations with little or no warning to customers” were the Streamliner’s actual downfall.
