Well established Scientific Games and International Game Technology have been chosen by the North Carolina’s state lottery commission to provide equipment, software and tickets as the state’s new lottery vendors.

After a thorough process of reviewing bids for almost two years, North Carolina Education Lottery officials have finally made a decision, which is expected to save the state lottery millions of dollars every year. Scientific Games Inc. was chosen to print and distribute instant tickets until at least 2025, whereas the lottery’s major operations (software, security systems and computer terminals) will be supplied by IGT through at least 2027.

According to the information provided to the public, contract costs are based on a percentage of net ticket sales. The current estimated amount the lottery would pay on the two contracts is $26.6 million each year; this number is for 23% lower than the one paid on the current lottery contracts. Once all legal points are agreed upon, the contracts should take effect starting from April 2017.

North Carolina’s lottery commission executive director, Alice Garland, expressed confidence that they had chosen the best proposals in the two categories. She pointed out that the commission was very excited because of the “nice savings” and reassured players that there won’t be any differences in the games. According to Garland, players would be able, thanks to the new technology, to get tickets quicker and easier.

Lottery deputy executive director William Jourdain commented that it was “an extremely close competition” whose deciding factor was price. Reports show that bidders for the larger gaming system contract were IGT, Scientific Games and Intralot, a not so well-known Greek company.

On the 1,000-point scale IGT managed to get 971 points, whereas Sci Games received only four points less. The price difference between the offers from the two companies was $465,000, with IGT’s offer being $17.8 million on projected 2017 sales.