Lottery Of New Jersey Turning Towards Privatization

There is an announcement made by the officials that the only group which will be bidding for operating the state lottery shall be awarded with a contract of 15 years that is worth about billions of dollars. This contract has been won by Northstar New Jersey; it is a joint venture of lottery operators named GTECH and Scientific Games with the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. 

In a news release, the treasury department said that the group has decided to give New Jersey an amount of $120 million in advance and also has declared that the lottery profits will be increased by at least $1.42 billion on the contract life. However, the awarding of the contract will be executed after the Legislature passes a bill that will retain the required legislative approval earlier than awarding any lottery privatization contract. The bill is presently waiting on the desk of Governor Christie.

On the other hand, the lawmakers belonging to the democratic front are worrying about the idea of privatizing. They have also thrown light on the fact that the administration of Christie has not elaborated the fact that in which way should New Jersey be protecting itself if they encounter any problem relating to the privatization problems that are faced in the different states. Also the company named GTECH has doubled its lobbying in New Jersey since last two years and prior to that, they also had faced legal problems in the state have come forth in the single group that is to submit the bid. 

The components of the contract have not been let out yet. In the documents that were to seek bids in the last summer, the state mentioned that it required an operator from the private arena to sign the 15 year contract in which it will also need to meet some target of the revenues. This meant that if the proposed targets were missed by the company, then they would had to pay a penalty, while if the goals are being achieved then they had an option of keeping up to 5 per cent of the earned revenue.

In the year 2012, GTECH is known to have spent $180, 000 on lobbying, according to the figures received by the Election Law Enforcement Commission. The money was given to Wolff & Samson which is an extrusive law firm based in West Orange. One of the founding members named David Samson had led the transition team of Christie in the year 2009 when he was elected as the Governor. 

GTECH has hired a company named Mercury Public Affairs which will be handling its public relations. The chief strategist, Mike DuHime, the chief strategist of Christie’s reelection campaign is heading the Mercury’s public affairs operations in New Jersey. GTECH and Scientific Games are already having contracts with State Lottery. The ticket terminals are run by the GTECH whereas the instant tickets are printed by the Scientific Games. Vigilance based GTECH is actually a subsidiary of an Italian Lottery company named Lottomatica.