The State - News from Sept. 5, 1986

The possibility of a gap in lottery ticket supplies arose as the Lottery Commission delayed awarding a printing contract due to a flurry of protests. Three companies told policy-setting commissioners they had, or would, file formal complaints that the bid evaluation process was flawed, unfair and tainted with favoritism for Georgia-based Scientific Games Inc. Scientific Games, though not the lowest bidder, was selected by the lottery staff for the $20-million job of supplying perhaps 1 billion tickets for the state-run lottery over the next 15 months. The Lottery Commission, in light of by far the largest protest yet of a lottery-supply contract award, postponed approval of the deal with Scientific Games until full evaluation of the protests. Commissioners are expected to meet in special session next week to consider the issue. But lottery officials indicated any major delays, such as rebidding, could raise the specter of gaps in ticket supply.