Rick Alm wrote this in today's column in the Kansas City Star:
•Las Vegas-based BMM Compliance is suing the Kansas Department of Administration for awarding a state contract to New Jersey-based industry giant Gaming Laboratories International for exclusive rights to test slot machines that will be placed in state-owned casinos.
BMM
alleges the decision by state gaming regulators and others was
“misguided … unreasonable and anti-competition,” arguing that many
jurisdictions are moving away from exclusive testing contracts to an
open market as more companies emerge and challenge Gaming Laboratories’
longtime dominance of the industry that certifies the fairness and
integrity of gambling games.
Indeed, the Missouri Gaming Commission recently adopted a change in its procedures aimed at phasing out Gaming Laboratories as its exclusive testing firm.
BMM
further alleged that the Kansas decision had an appearance of
impropriety because former Missouri Gaming Commission executive
director Kevin P. Mullally, now Gaming Laboratories’ general counsel,
was a state consultant at the time, assisting in establishing Kansas’
gaming regulatory framework, including the exclusive vendor issue.
Mullally was not named as a defendant, and no specific acts of wrongdoing were alleged.
In
his formal letter denying BMM’s appeal of the contract award, Kansas
purchasing director Chris Howe said state gaming officials’ decision to
go with an exclusive source was a matter of state policy and “outside
my scope of review.”
Howe also noted “the file clearly shows Mr.
Mullally disclosed he was representing GLI … and was not a
disinterested consultant.”
