5 Firms Submit Bids for Computer Lotto-Style Games

SACRAMENTO — Five companies submitted bids Friday for a contract that could be worth as much as $200 million during the next four years to provide computerized games for the state lottery.

Bob Taylor, spokesman for the lottery, said lottery officials hope to complete their evaluation of the complex bids by the end of this year. Friday was the deadline for turning in bids.

Taylor said each firm submitted 11 to 19 boxes of materials to support their bids. “We have a lot of material to be analyzed,” he said. “It will be a complicated process.”

Taylor said lottery officials are hopeful that the computerized lotto-style games, in which players pick a series of numbers to win multimillion-dollar jackpots, could get under way next summer.

The successful bidder must provide up to 5,000 gaming terminals for installation in retail establishments as well as space-age data processing units.

The bidders are International Totalizator Systems Inc., headquartered in San Diego; Control Data Corp. of New York, GTECH Corp. of Providence, R.I., General Instrument Corp. of Maryland, and Scientific Games Inc., based in Norcross, Ga.

“In terms of sheer size and prestige, there is nothing that compares with this contract,” said Richard Ponton, vice president of the lottery division of General Instrument.

Ten companies had submitted letters of intent to bid for the contract.