Hoosier Lottery asks vendors to bid on work

Associated Press

July 11, 2012

The Indiana State Lottery Commission is asking companies to bid on taking over some of its operations.

The commission Tuesday issued a solicitation for companies to bid by Aug. 31 on taking over the sales, distribution and marketing of the lottery, a state agency whose income has shrunk in recent years. It expects to sign a 10-year contract by Nov. 1.

Lottery spokesman Al Larsen said the Lottery Commission will retain certain duties, including overall oversight of the lottery, rulemaking and conducting drawings. Vendors are being asked to find ways to make the lottery more profitable by possibly changing its retail network, improving marketing, and other ways. He said the commission has no plans to for substantial changes in its current operations.

Democratic leaders have been critical of many of the privatization activities of the Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration.

The lottery commission endorsed a plan in May to seek out private companies to take over some operations of the lottery. At the time, Larsen said the effort's goal wasn't to privatize the lottery, but to see if companies have ideas for improving some of its operations — functions they could potentially take over if the state likes their ideas and eventually awards them contracts.

Larsen said the primary goal is to boost the lottery's net income, which dropped from $218 million in fiscal year 2006 to $188 million during fiscal year 2011 — a 14 percent decline.

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Hoosier Lottery seeks bids for privatizing some of agency's work

Evansville Courier & Press

By Eric Bradner

July 10, 2012

INDIANAPOLIS — Its eyes on privatizing some of its functions in hopes of boosting revenue, the Hoosier Lottery is asking companies to lay their ideas out in binding bids that are due by the end of August.

The move comes after 10 companies responded to the lottery's initial inquiry to see whether there were ways to tweak its functions to make more money.

The final round of bids allows companies to make proposals along two lines — their base bid, which just deals with the lottery's current structure, and enhanced bids, which can involve new games, platforms, delivery mechanisms and more.

The Hoosier Lottery generated revenue of $188 million during fiscal year 2011, which started June 30, 2010, and ended July 1, 2011. However, its leaders say in a "request for information" from potential contractors that they believe it can earn more.

According to the document, the state's lottery commission "believes that there is a great deal of untapped potential and opportunity to grow the Hoosier Lottery."

The lottery said in a news release bidders "will be challenged to submit proposals designed to accelerate the realization of a significant increase in the lottery's net income in a socially-responsible manner through innovation, agility and market responsiveness."

What they're really looking for: Who can save the most money.

"The thing that we are focused on is looking to a private vendor that believes they can significantly increase our net income on an annual basis. This is a bottom-line discussion," said Al Larsen, a spokesman for the Hoosier Lottery.

After the bids are in, a selection team headed by the lottery's executive director, Karl Browning, will decide whether to recommend a bid — "and that's a fairly important distinction, because we may not go down this path after we see the bids," Larsen said.

If it does, he said, the selection team will ask the state Lottery Commission to approve that bid during its meeting on Sept. 26.

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Hoosier Lottery moves toward privatizing

The Indiana State Lottery Commission, which operates the Hoosier Lottery, is asking private lottery operators to make bids showing how they could improve operations of the state-run lottery.

According the a report by the Evansville Courier & Press, the bids would have two parts: bids related to the lottery's current structure and bids related to new games and structures that would generate more revenue.

The bids are due to the Indianapolis-based commission by the end of next month.

http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/blog/morning_call/2012/07/hoosier-lottery-moves-toward-privatizing.html

During fiscal year 2011, ended July 31, the Hoosier Lottery generated $188 million in revenue for the state.