Rhode Island Democratic Governor Gina Raimondo has been cleared of accusations over an alleged violation of state ethics during contract negotiations last year with state lottery provider IGT. She had negotiated a no-bid 20-year contract extension with IGT.
Raimondo was cleared by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission which voted 7-1 to dismiss a complaint made by the state Republican Party. The Commission said it had not found evidence that she had committed a “knowing and willful” violation.
Quoted by the Associated Press, Raimondo attorney Jonathan Berkon said: “We are pleased that the Ethics Commission voted to dismiss this baseless complaint, following a thorough review.”
According to the AP report, Republicans had argued that Raimondo should not have negotiated with a former IGT executive and current lobbyist on the grounds that he was an official with the Democratic Governors Association, which Raimondo led.
It added that the complaint, filed in July, alleged that Raimondo had violated the prohibition against public officials using their positions to benefit a “business associate.”
While Raimondo is in the clear, the news is not so good for the Rhode Island Lottery which has seen revenue battered by the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. With the sporting shut down still firmly in place, March sports betting handle slumped 68.2% to $8.949m versus $28.138m in February.
Rhode Island joins a growing list of state lotteries feeling the pandemic pinch, with the likes of Kentucky Lottery seeing sales down by $11.5m year-on-year. Massachusetts has also been hit hard, seeing ticket sales fall from more than $111m in the week ending March 7 to less than $75m six weeks later.