Twin River Casino blasts Rhode Island governor's proposed IGT deal

PROVIDENCE — A full-page ad in The Sunday Journal launches Twin River’s campaign to convince Rhode Island lawmakers that the $1-billion, no-bid, 20-year Lottery deal that Gov. Gina Raimondo is pushing for International Game Technology (IGT) will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost gambling revenue.

If passed by lawmakers as proposed by Raimondo, the Lottery would be required to get 85 percent of its 5,000-plus electronic gambling machines from IGT, even though state law currently caps the number at 50 percent. The company would potentially get a bigger slice of the revenue pie.

And, as Twin River sees it, Rhode Island would lose the opportunity that other states — including Massachusetts — had to extract better deals from IGT by putting their contracts out to bid.

“We think R.I. taxpayers should be terrified by this deal,” Marc Crisafulli, the executive vice president of Twin River Worldwide Holdings — and president of the company’s Rhode Island casino operations — told The Journal on Friday as the opposition campaign was about to launch.

Read more: https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190707/twin-river-casino-blasts-ri-governors-proposed-igt-deal