Twin River's EVP Marc Crisafulli was the first to alert the General Assembly as to the awful insider deal being presented to the legislature for ratification by the Governor. Ironically, now that Twin River is in on the deal, our taxpayer funded independent expert has tabulated the OVERPAYMENT in this contract at $660 MILLION!!! With the state's huge budget deficit, with the state desperately needing funding for core government functions such as education, bridges and roads, our Vets Home, DCYF, etc., why would our leadership give away all that taxpayer money to two RI businesses?
Besides the $660M OVERPAY to IGT/Twin River in the proposed NO-BID contract, the Governor, Speaker and Senate President are ignoring the HUGE ADDITIONAL REVENUE potential in our Instant Ticket program by denying other gaming companies the opportunity to bid. Just ask SCIENTIFIC GAMES, who sent a RECENT email to our legislators, asking for consideration and a chance to compete for our gaming business. Our taxpayer funded independent consultant said we were leaving money on the table with a no-bid contract --and here's proof!
We had two gaming experts inform the legislature on the gross taxpayer $660 MILLION OVERPAY on this BAD IGT/Twin River contract:
In 2019 Marc Crisafulli, EVP Twin River testified on the need for a fair and lawful bidding process.
The average user of a Smartphone upgrades in a little less than 2 years. We are starting to see the big-time casinos realize the huge potential that lies in technology-- with the development of AI and AR slots, concierge apps, and bigger and better bonuses-- the future of gaming is evolving. Why then would anyone (our government leadership) limit the potential of RI's 3rd largest revenue stream with a 20 YEAR, NO-BID tech based contract? Twin River made it very clear last year that IGT was not maintaining an edge in the video slot machines (VLTs) and that other companies produced far greater revenues for the State.
Last fall, Twin River was spending BIG money to ensure the proposed IGT deal went down. The concerns raised by EVP Marc Crisafulli were very compelling, as he was a former GTECH exec and gambling insider. Now that Twin River has part of the action, the "new" deal is supposedly "great." But for who? Certainly not the taxpayers who are paying significantly in this "deal" -- DOUBLE the OVERPAYMENT at $660 MILLION!! (Crisafulli verified during testimony there WAS an overpayment at $300M, our independent expert confirmed it was more than DOUBLE that amount.)
This awful backroom deal gives away $660 MILLION of OUR hard-earned tax dollars to two businesses that designed and OVERWHELMINGLY BENEFIT from the proposed contract.
"TOXIC DEAL." That is how Twin River's EVP Marc Crisafulli described the IGT no-bid, 20-year, billion dollar contract with a $300 M premium in testimony before House Finance LAST year. Only three things have changed since that time: Twin River now has a piece of the action; the "great" jobs mandate is significantly watered down; and the premium, as discovered through our taxpayer funded independent study more than doubled and is actually $660 MILLION!!! This definitely remains
a "toxic deal!" With an unstable economy due to COVID and a HUGE budget deficit due to government mismanagement pre-COVID (Vets Home, UHIP computer system, Medicaid debacle at Dept of Behavioral Health, DCYF, excessive highly paid communications positions/consultants, etc.) why are our government leaders trying to push this BAD DEAL through now? A "deal" that includes a taxpayer OVERPAYMENT of $660,000,000.00 dollars!
Why is House leadership ignoring the advice from the $165,000.00 taxpayer funded expert who said a 20 year deal is bad? From the expert who said we are overpaying by $660,000,000.00. From the expert who said we could get a better deal in a competitive bidding process?
Multiple requests by House GOP to bring the expert in to testify before House finance have been ignored--despite the fact that the taxpayers have already paid for two testimonial visits. |
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