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Saturday, Aug. 22, 1998
GTECH profits at issue
Texas, papers want access to numbers
Associated Press
AUSTIN -- Texas lottery games have been lucrative for the state lottery's operator. But GTECH Corp. executives want to keep secret exactly how lucrative.
That desire puts the company at odds with the Texas Lottery Commission chairwoman and news organizations seeking to review the information about it.
``I believe that information that relates to the operation of the Texas lottery ought to be available to the public,'' said Commission Chair Harriet Miers. She said Attorney General Dan Morales likely will make the final decision.
The Austin American-Statesman and other news organizations have filed requests for the information under the Texas open records law.
Miers said she disagrees with GTECH's argument that the data falls under the category of ``competitively sensitive data.''
Executives of the West Greenwich, R.I.-based company briefed lottery commission members behind closed doors Thursday on the numbers. But the commission, citing GTECH's request, declined to discuss them in public.
Marc Palazzo, GTECH spokesman, says the profit figures will show that Texas is getting a fair deal.
But Miers said it was too early to tell if GTECH is being overpaid. Under a contract that extends through 2001, GTECH's fee for operating the lottery is about 4 percent of gross ticket sales.
In February 1997, the lottery commission began an effort to audit GTECH's expenditures. But the audit was hit by delays from questions by Lawrence Littwin, then the lottery director.
Littwin was fired after four months on the job.
Numbers from GTECH will be helpful when the contract next comes up for bid, said Debra McLeod, the agency's internal audit director.
She told commissioners that Deloitte & Touche, the consultants hired by the Lottery Commission to review GTECH's costs, is collecting information from GTECH.Post your comments about local news eventsFront Page || Main Index || News || Business || Texas || South Texas Outdoors || Birdwatching || Sports || Entertainment || Selena || Education || South Texas Attractions || World Wide Web