Twin River Worldwide Holdings (TRWH) has announced a partnership with Scientific Games that aims to launch a public bid process for the Rhode Island Lottery contract.  

The contract which is currently held by IGT expires in 2023. However, the State is considering a 20-year, no-bid billion dollar extension to the contract upon its expiry.

Marc Crisafulli, Executive Vice President of TRWH, commented on the partnership: “Today’s announcement that Scientific Games has joined Twin River is further proof that there is significant interest in bidding for Rhode Island’s lottery and gaming business, with virtually the entire global lottery industry now confirming that they will participate if an open competitive bidding process develops in Rhode Island. 

“We believe this is ultimately very good news for the Rhode Island taxpayers. We look forward to continuing our conversation with members of the General Assembly about the efficacy of a public bid process, the extraordinary savings to the State that likely could be realized when competition enters the marketplace and how we can collaboratively protect and enhance the State’s third largest source of revenue.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Scientific Games will offer its full portfolio of lottery services to the TRWH consortium which includes Camelot Lottery Solutions and Intralot. Furthermore, specific lottery services provided by both Scientific and the consortium members will be tailored depending on the details of the bid issued by Rhode Island.

Crisafulli added: “The lottery programs managed by Scientific Games in New England states far outperform IGT’s Rhode Island lottery programs. IGT’s Instant Game program in Rhode Island is performing 75% lower sales averages than the national weekly per capita sales average. Among a peer group of US lotteries of similar size, Rhode Island has the lowest growth rate for revenue over the past eight years, and the lowest growth rate for draw games for the last decade.

“Scientific Games is well known to us. Their machines in our two Rhode Island facilities outperformed IGT-controlled machines by over 50% last year, delivering on average over $31,000 more per machine to the State of Rhode Island taxpayers. They have a successful track record of understanding player preferences and delivering products that exceed customer expectations. The New England gaming market has become increasingly competitive, and the addition of Scientific Games to our team is an important part of enhancing our ability to compete and deliver positive results for Rhode Island.”

The move follows on from a September partnership between the Twin River Management Group and Camelot Lottery Solutions which saw a competing proposal bid submitted to the offices of Rhode Island’s Governor, Speaker of the House and Senate President, regarding the operation of the state’s lottery system.

TRWH owns and manages two casinos in Rhode Island, one in Mississippi, and one in Delaware. The partnership will see them benefit from Scientific Games’ industry leading performance which it already provides to 150 lotteries across 50 countries, whilst also having access to Scientific’s premier lottery instant games which feature in 9 of the top 10 performing US lotteries.

Patrick McHugh, Executive Vice President and Group Chief Executive, Lottery, concluded: “As the only full-service lottery provider headquartered in the United States, Scientific Games is very excited about bringing our global leadership in lottery and gaming products to Rhode Island in a more meaningful way. 

“We are confident that our products will improve the performance of Rhode Island Lottery programs and create millions of dollars in new revenue for the State. We are pleased to formalize our commitment to bidding with the Twin River/Camelot consortium. There are tremendous synergies created by our companies coming together to deliver a competitive package that seeks to increase Lottery sales and profits for Rhode Island.

“Scientific Games values the trust our 150 lottery customers have placed in us throughout 50 countries worldwide and look forward to helping make Rhode Island the leading lottery performer it should be.”

A statement released by the Twin River consortium revealed what was included in its current proposal:

  • Commitment of 1,100 jobs created in Rhode Island backed up by a $100m guarantee to the State if the jobs commitment falls short.
  • Investment in best of breed lottery and gaming products to maximize sales and profits.
  • A 12-year contract with an approximate cost to the State of [Rhode Island of] less than $500m dollars versus the current IGT contract [that carries with it] over $1 billion dollars in costs to the State [of Rhode Island], and if the State prefers a 20 year contract an upfront payment of $75m, $50m more than IGT for the same contract term.
  • The development or construction of a new corporate headquarters in Rhode Island of approximately 50,000 square feet.
  • The expenditure of $50m at Twin River to include new amenities and facility upgrades as part of the overall commitment to invest $150m.