Iowa lottery awards SG record setting contract

Yesterday, the Iowa Lottery Board voted unanimously to award a $50.3 million contract to Scientific Games. The agreement calls for Scientific Games to install a new lottery computer system at about 2,500 retail locations statewide and the system will offer electronic ticket checking devices in stores for lottery players to check their own tickets that Iowa Lottery officials believe will enhance customer service and improve the integrity of gaming.

The size of the contract has set a new benchmark for Iowa. Iowa lottery chief executive officer Terry Rich said the 10-year contract is the largest contract ever approved in the Iowa Lottery’s 25-year history.”

Scientific Games came up big-time with this contract, which is just what the doctor ordered after the company recently posted poor Q3 results compared with the same period last year. Winning the Iowa contract wasn’t a cakewalk as both Intralot and GTECH were in the mix. Scientific Games, after receiving the highest technical score and the best pricing score from a lottery committee that evaluated the bids walked away with Iowa Lottery’s largest contract ever.