More Like ‘Intra-Not’ — Maryland Lottery Revokes Vendor Contract

The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency (MLGCA) rescinded its vendor contract with Intralot, Inc. on Friday, just 17 days after awarding the contract.

On July 15, the Maryland Lottery selected Intralot to be its Lottery Central Monitoring and Control System (LCMCS) provider, meaning the Duluth, Georgia-based company would manufacture retail counter terminals and self-service vending machines, create the lottery’s sales and accounting software, and provide other operational services.

But on Aug. 1, after completing its review process, the MLGCA notified Intralot that the proposal in fact did not meet all requirements, and the anticipated 10-year contract beginning in 2027 would not be awarded.

“As an independent agency, our review process is designed to ensure that proposals don’t advance without meeting all requirements,” MLGCA Director John Martin said in a release. “Upon determining that our initial assessment was incorrect, we have taken appropriate action to move forward with the procurement process in accordance with procurement law.”

Intralot was one of three companies to submit in response to the Maryland Lottery’s request for proposals issued on July 19, 2024. The other two were IGT Global Solutions Corporation of Providence, Rhode Island, and Scientific Games, LLC of Alpharetta, Georgia. On Friday, the MLGCA revealed that Scientific Games was the runner-up initially and had been notified that it is now the “recommended offeror.”

Scientific Games is the current LCMCS provider, with a contract that runs until May 4, 2027.

Not the first stumble for Intralot

The MLGCA did not specify what requirements Intralot failed to meet.

Intralot works with 10 other state lotteries plus Washington, D.C., and the Canadian province of British Columbia.

But the company is perhaps best known in the gambling space for its failed effort to operate mobile sports betting in D.C. Intralot won the sole contract there and launched the GambetDC app in May 2020, only to run into numerous technical issues and fall far short of revenue expectations. In March 2024, Intralot replaced GambetDC with FanDuel Sportsbook, and beginning in July 2024, D.C. opened up its online sports betting market to multiple operators.

In the initial evaluation of the three proposals for the LCMCS, Intralot’s proposal was deemed the most advantageous to the state. Intralot ranked second, behind Scientific Games, for technical merit, but its financial proposal ranked first. IGT placed third in both categories.

Maryland Lottery and Gaming announced in July that it generated $1.585 billion to support state programs in Fiscal Year 2024, with $699.6 million of that — 44.1% — generated through lottery sales.