Bidding error sets back video gambling

Video gambling in the state hit another snag after the Illinois Gaming Board admitted mistakes were made in the bidding process for the central computer system that will monitor the devices.

Gaming board spokesman Gene O'Shea said the mistake is likely to mean a four-month delay in the debut of video gambling, projecting that video gambling will finally go online next July.

The gaming board bid out the system at the end of last year, and awarded it to Scientific Games International in May, sealing the deal with a contract estimated at about $90 million in August. Yet competing Greek-based Intralot complained its bid was actually lower after filing a Freedom of Information Act request later that month and looking the final bids over.

The gaming board issued a release over the weekend confirming "miscalculations were made, due, in part, to assumptions made by the gaming board and by vendors that were not uniform and not verified." Parts of the bid that were actually included in the Intralot offer were re-added by mistake and applied to its total cost.

O'Shea said the new bidding process would proceed from scratch, and "it would be open to anyone," not just those two companies.

Video gambling for the state's bars and restaurants was approved by the General Assembly as part of a $31 billion state capital program and was originally expected to contribute $300 million this year to help finance bonds for construction projects. Yet many towns opted out of allowing video gambling, ratcheting down the revenue projections.