{"id":107966,"date":"2019-06-27T17:10:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:10:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=107966"},"modified":"2019-06-27T17:18:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T00:18:51","slug":"dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/","title":{"rendered":"DC Councilmembers Want to Rip Up $215 Million Intralot Sports Betting Contract"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls are growing within the District of Columbia Council to shred a $215 million contract<\/a> awarded to Intralot and start again with a competitive bidding process to find a new service provider for the district\u2019s future sports betting operations.<\/p>\n

\"DC
DC Councilmember Jack Evans was relieved of his duty to lead Wednesday’s sports betting hearing following a raid on his house by the FBI on Friday and amid questions of his suitability to serve the council. (Image: WTOP.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Councilmembers are concerned about the perception of cronyism that lingers from the decision to hand the sports betting monopoly to DC\u2019s existing lottery operator, Greece-based gaming company Intralot, while sidestepping the public procurement process.<\/p>\n

The clamor intensified after it was revealed that councilmember Jack Evans — the champion of DC\u2019s sports betting legislation, passed last year — breached ethics rules by advancing the interests of a parking firm without disclosing a $50,000 payment.<\/p>\n

Things could be about to get worse for Evans. Last Friday, his Georgetown home was raided by the FBI<\/a>. Agents were seen to spend several hours searching the property before leaving with boxes containing documents and computer equipment.<\/p>\n

Old Boys\u2019 Club?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A hearing of the DC Council Committee of the Whole on Wednesday was supposed to be chaired by Evans, but the long-time councilmember has been stripped of many of his duties due to concerns about his fitness to serve the council.<\/p>\n

Instead, councilmembers used the hearing to question the wisdom of forgoing the competitive bidding process — a decision that was made ostensibly in an attempt to get sports betting up and running as quickly as possible so the district could capitalize on the revenue.<\/p>\n

\n

But Councilman David Grosso questioned the subcontractors listed in the deal and whether their political connections led to their inclusion. DC law requires operators to partner with at least one local subcontractor, even though there may be little the local company can offer.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In 2009, Intralot won the contract to operate the lottery after partnering with a company called DC09, an entity established by one Emmanuel Bailey and registered to his mother\u2019s house. Bailey is a businessman with connections to several DC Councilmembers.<\/p>\n

Intralot Under Scrutiny<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The lottery contract became the subject of a federal grand jury investigation, although no charges were ever filed. Evans is alleged to have had links to a lobbying firm that DC09 counted among its clients.<\/p>\n

Bailey is once again listed as a subcontractor on the sports betting contract, as is the law firm he hired to lobby for sports betting in DC.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow we see a contract before us containing subcontractors with even more significant political connections and poor track records\u2026\u201d said Grosso, as reported by local radio station WTOP.<\/p>\n

Yet we don\u2019t know what the subcontractors\u2019 scopes of work will be or how much they\u2019ll be paid because it\u2019s been withheld from the public. This still reeks of pay-to-play, even more now than before.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, Councilmember John Ray\u00a0questioned Intralot\u2019s financial performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much money is it costing the district to finance this very weak financial company?\u201d he asked, as reported by Legal Sports Report.<\/em> \u201c\u2026 If you learned the retirement board was investing your money in Intralot, would you be happy? Would you buy Intralot shares? If the answer to that is no, why would you ask the district taxpayers to invest their money in Intralot?<\/p>\n

“Mr. Chairman, you need to take a serious look at this contract,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The final debate on the contract is scheduled for July 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Calls are growing within the District of Columbia Council to shred a $215 million contract awarded to Intralot and start again with a competitive bidding process to find a new service provider for the district\u2019s future sports betting operations. Councilmembers are concerned about the perception of cronyism that lingers from the decision to hand the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":107968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,61,13592,1,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDC Councilmembers Want to Rip Up $215 Million Sports Betting Contract<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DC Councilmembers demands to ditch Intralot and start again with new procurement process to find a sports betting supplier gathers pace.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DC Councilmembers Want to Rip Up $215 Million Sports Betting Contract\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DC Councilmembers demands to ditch Intralot and start again with new procurement process to find a sports betting supplier gathers pace.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-28T00:10:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-06-28T00:18:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/evans.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1050\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/\",\"name\":\"DC Councilmembers Want to Rip Up $215 Million Sports Betting Contract\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/evans.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-28T00:10:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-28T00:18:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"DC Councilmembers demands to ditch Intralot and start again with new procurement process to find a sports betting supplier gathers pace.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dc-councilmembers-want-to-rip-up-215-million-sports-betting-contract\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/evans.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/evans.jpg\",\"width\":1560,\"height\":1050,\"caption\":\"DC Councilmember Jack Evans was relieved of his duty to lead the sports betting hearing following a raid on his house by the FBI on Friday and amid increasing questions of his suitability to serve the council. 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