COLUMBUS — The Ohio Lottery is staying with its decision to go with a new vendor despite complaints from the company it has been doing business with for more than two decades.

In a letter Friday to Gtech Corp., Ohio Lottery Director Michael Dolan rebuffed the company’s claims that it botched the bidding process when it awarded a lucrative contract to competitor Intralot Inc. The contract, which would begin July 1, 2009, is estimated to be worth about $170 million and could last up to 10 years.

Part of the contract would include the new Keno game if it is approved by the state Controlling Board. Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has proposed the game, saying it could provide $73 million in its first year to help plug a projected $733 million state budget gap. Gtech would oversee Keno until next July.

Gtech has said the lottery lowered its experience requirements to allow Intralot to compete for the contract of one of the country’s largest state lotteries. The largest U.S. lottery currently operated by the company is Nebraska’s.

Gtech also said that Intralot falsely told the Ohio Lottery that it had never had to pay damages for a system breakdown.

In his Friday letter, Dolan said the size of the lotteries in which Intralot currently does business did not figure into the bidding process.

He said the relatively trivial objections raised by Gtech miss the point — that Intralot will save the lottery about $20 million a year in equipment and operating costs.

“These guys (Gtech) need to back off and let the process work instead of trying to distort the truth,” Dolan said.

Gtech said it was reviewing the decision and wouldn’t rule out going to court.

“This seemed like a foregone conclusion before we even filed our protest,” said Gtech spokesman Robert Vincent. “We’re still digesting most of it. The full range of options remains open to us.”

Both Gtech and Intralot have been campaign contributors to Strickland and the Democratic Party. 

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