The Florida Speaker of the House is drafting a lawsuit that would pit the House against the Florida Lottery. At the heart of the issue is a contract between the Florida Lottery and gaming vendor IGT Global Solutions Corporation, which provides lotto vending machines.
Last year, the Florida Legislature budgeted about $26.6 million for terminal machines, $5 million for instant-ticket vending machines and $2.9 million for full-service vending machines, according to a draft of the suit.
The suit, first reported by Politico Florida, alleges that the contract signed by the Florida Lottery with IGT obligates the lottery to spend more money on vending machines in future years.
The house maintains that the Lottery is not allowed to sign a contract that requires the Legislature to pay more money.
“Contrary to these established principles, the Secretary of the Florida Lottery solicited and executed a multi-year contract with IGT Global Solutions Corporation that will require the Florida Lottery—by its own admission—to spend more money in future fiscal years than currently is appropriated for the applicable budget categories,” writes the council for the Florida Speaker of the House. “In fact, the Florida Lottery’s legislative budget request for Fiscal Year 2017-18 now asks for an aggregate increase in its ticket machine budget categories and a realignment of those categories to accommodate this new excess contract. This is impermissible.”
The draft lawsuit comes at a time of increased tension between the Speaker of the Florida House and the Gov. Rick Scott.
The House has moved in recent weeks to eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida. House leadership has raised questions about the use of taxpayer money for the two groups, while the governor maintains that both are vital job-creation tools.
The Secretary of the Florida Lottery, Tom Delacenserie, was appointed by Scott on November 23, 2015.
The Governor’s Office and the Florida Lottery declined to comment, saying they had not seen a copy of the draft lawsuit.
Cox Media Group
