April 16, 2026

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - With the staggering amounts of money to be made in state lottery systems nationwide, companies vying for pieces of those pies are thrown into an exacting, cut-throat, and rough and tumble world with individuals and the firms they represent wrestling with each other as they claw for an upper hand.

The payoffs are in the millions of dollars for the entity chosen to run the respective states’ lotteries. In fiscal 2016, for example, lottery ticket sales in Maryland generated a record $1.9 billion in sales. Meanwhile, in FY 2024, the District of Columbia brought in $324 million. States with the highest sales in 2025 were New York, $10.25 billion, Florida, $9.13 billion; California, $8.93B, and Texas, $7.91billion.

In Maryland, two companies, Scientific Games and Intralot are locked in yet another bitter battle over who will be awarded the state’s very profitable contract and the right to manage Maryland’s lottery systems for the next 10 years.

It may be up to a judge to settle the increasingly muddled and rancorous dispute.

Scientific Games, the incumbent, lost the contract to Intralot on price because Intralot tendered a $260 million bid, $110 million less than Scientific Games. Intralot was subsequently disqualified over MBE certifications of two vendors not being certified at the time of submission though they were cleared by the time of the award (which is a technicality). Scientific Games may have been in the catbird seat but some industry insiders familiar with the situation note that Scientific Games had such bad relationships and a reputation of traditionally overcharging the state and under-delivering on service, that the commission voted not to award the contract.

An underlying issue was also fallout from a minority contractor that caused the lottery commission to tread lightly.

Scientific Games filed suit, asking for a judge chosen from Anne Arundel County Circuit Court to arbitrate a case SGI contends is an “unfair and illegal process” that led to the contract being stripped away. This comes after Maryland’s lottery commission voted to reverse the bid on September 25 last year. SGI’s ask is for the court to block any rebid and reinstatement of the 10-year deal to its rival. In addition, SGI also wants the judge to rule that the state doesn’t rebid the contract while it appeals.

Scientific Games contended that Maryland officials did not take into consideration the value and advantages of continuing with the company, which officials claim was exceeding revenue expectations for the state.

The new owner of Intralot says he expects these and similar challenges will be a thing of the past now that Intralot has now been placed under the umbrella of the Bally’s Corporation.

“We’re in the business of investing in what we think are good companies,” said Soo Kim, chairman of the board of directors of Bally’s Corporation, which owns and operates several casinos in the US. “Intralot had bad balance sheets, was mismanaged, had variable events and had limited resources but it has good bones as an innovative system lottery provider.”

In addition, Kim said, Intralot was over-leveraged with debt trading at 50 cents on the dollar.

“We look for innovation disrupters. We felt good because we found a technically sound company but with some employers who had a sense of belief that with no resources you may feel there’s no way out.”

Since acquiring Intralot in the summer of 2023, and making a different investment in 2025, Kim said along with Bally’s infusion of fresh resources into Intralot “and we’re just starting to fill the management team.”

“It’s too early to anticipate what level of success we’ll have but we’re very optimistic. People have a certain view of Intralot that we hope to change,” said Kim, who is the founding partner of Standard General and is the firm’s managing partner and chief investment officer. “People should give us another chance; we’re asking people to give us another chance.”   

Bally’s-Intralot has the best balance sheet in lottery, Kim declared.

This new entity’s competition is Brightstar and Scientific Games. The goal now, Kim asserts is to work in ways hard and smart to become Number 1 in the lottery ecosystem.

“Currently, we are Number 3 of 3. Intralot has had very bad balance sheets for the last decade and internal and external challenges,” said Kim, who was born in Seoul, South Korea but moved with his family to Queens, New York City when he was 5. “These problems seeped into the minds of the management team. The biggest challenge is to change people's minds externally and internally. We have had some leadership changes and we’re working to change people's perceptions inside and out.”

For Kim and Bally’s-Intralot, past is not prologue, but a roadmap that offers officials in the new company ways to sidestep, avoid and recognize issues that have plagued them in the past.

The lottery goings-on in New Mexico for example, are an opportunity for Bally’s-Intralot to show off its ability to do the job.

Scientific Games became the new operator after a stint by Intralot ended. Based on an investigation into the changeover, the transition has been anything but smooth.

Patrick M. Bren­ner, pres­id­ent and CEO of the South­w­est Pub­lic Policy Insti­tute, criticized Scientific Games for the damage the “botched rollout” of the new gaming system has had on a variety of areas of New Mexico life.

The institute’s investigative report, “Rolling the Dice,” and an opinion piece by Brenner in the Santa Fe New Mexican, details the chaos.

“… The lot­tery’s pro­cure­ment and trans­ition pro­cess has been marked by delays, doc­u­ment­a­tion gaps and mount­ing oper­a­tional risks that now extend bey­ond the agency and into the classrooms it is meant to sup­port,” Brenner said. “This was not a routine inform­a­tion tech­no­logy upgrade. It was a once-in-a-dec­ade replace­ment of the New Mex­ico lot­tery schol­ar­ship’s core fin­an­cial back­bone. The author­ity selec­ted Sci­entific Games as its new part­ner because it was the low­est-cost option on paper, des­pite com­pet­it­ors such as Inter­na­tional Game Tech­no­logy scor­ing higher on tech­nical mer­its. Com­pound­ing this error, the eval­u­ation com­mit­tee reportedly took no notes dur­ing the selec­tion pro­cess. This admin­is­trat­ive neg­li­gence leaves this entire trans­ition vul­ner­able to lit­ig­a­tion and provides no account­ab­il­ity to tax­pay­ers.”

“The dam­age is already mani­fest­ing across the state, and the field reports are dire,” Brenner added.

Retail­ers describe a sys­tem in slow motion where ticket print­ing takes sig­ni­fic­antly longer than it did under the pre­vi­ous infra­struc­ture. There is a total absence of Fast Play games at retail loc­a­tions, and the lot­tery call cen­ter is effect­ively miss­ing in action when clerks need help, Brenner said.

“These are not mere incon­veni­ences for busi­ness own­ers. They are sys­temic red flags indic­at­ing a fail­ure to adequately pre­pare the people on the front lines who actu­ally gen­er­ate rev­enue for our state,” he explained. “The deeper fail­ure here is insti­tu­tional. Pub­lic pro­cure­ment is designed to bal­ance cost, com­pet­ence and con­tinu­ity, espe­cially in sys­tems that gen­er­ate rev­enue rather than con­sume it.”

A lot­tery gam­ing sys­tem is not a com­mod­ity pur­chase; it is a highly spe­cial­ized, rev­enue-crit­ical plat­form that requires seam­less integ­ra­tion, retailer train­ing and phased imple­ment­a­tion,” said Brenner.

“When decision-makers reduce that com­plex­ity to a low­est-bid exer­cise, they sub­sti­tute short-term optics for long-term per­form­ance. In a sys­tem where every trans­ac­tion funds a stu­dent’s future, fra­gil­ity is a liab­il­ity,” he continued. “By rush­ing this trans­ition and exhaust­ing the legal exten­sion lim­its with the out­go­ing vendor, Int­ralot, the author­ity has backed itself into a corner.”

“It is now pre­cari­ously depend­ent on emer­gency meas­ures just to keep the lights on and the ter­min­als act­ive. State law caps lot­tery con­tracts at ten years to pre­vent vendor entrench­ment, but these repeated emer­gency exten­sions may be push­ing the agency past its legal author­ity.”

What the New Mexico public is witnessing is “a clas­sic pro­cure­ment design fail­ure in which a gov­ern­ment agency knows the price of everything but the value of noth­ing.”

If this sys­tem fails, the sav­ings prom­ised by the low bid will be swal­lowed whole by lost schol­ar­ship rev­enue and legal fees, Brenner warned.

“New Mex­ico stu­dents deserve a lot­tery that works, not a high-s­takes gamble with their futures,” he asserted.

Brenner was referring to the fact that 30 percent of gross sales from the New Mexico lottery is allotted to the Legislative Lottery Scholarship Fund which supports college education for residents. As of April 2021, according to the Las Cruces Sun News, the New Mexico Lottery has generated approximately $3.28 billion in ticket sales since its launch in 1996, with more than $1.79 billion paid in prizes.

In a recent interview with Brandon Vogt, Brenner said this wasn’t the first time Scientific Games had dropped the ball. He said similar problems popped up in Florida and Delaware. If he had his druthers, Brenner told the interviewer, he’d go back to Intralot.

“Do you think there would be like one of one of the off ramps here for the state of New Mexico? Just going to have to deal with Scientific Games or …”

“…Well, the contract is executed, unless they can find a way out of the contract and go back to the original vendor, which, I mean, in my humbly honest opinion, seems like the right choice maneuver here. Yeah, we're stuck with a rather shoddy vendor,” said Brenner.

Interviewer Brandon Vogt told Brenner that since Scientific Games is flying, is it too late for the legislature to step in.

“So the keyboard shortcut for undo is Control Z, they just give it Control Z, yes, I wish they could just do that. Undo, this. This was a disaster,” said Brenner. “The problem is that the procurement process so heavily weights the contract award on price. I mean, everybody's familiar with the term, it goes out to the lowest bidder. Yeah, I never understood that growing up.”

The contrast in what Bally’s-Intralot and its competitor offered is as different as night and day, Kim said, especially as new and robust systems are put in place.

“We are running lottery systems in Illinois, Georgia, Arkansas, Ohio, New Hampshire, Montana and Washington D.C. We are also in 23 countries – we have a very large international footprint,” said Kim. “We hope to be a share gainer-based company with a strong heritage, resources and balance sheet. I honestly believe that Intralot has the best balance sheet and credit profile of the major systems providers.”

One crucial difference between the old and new companies is that the Bally’s Corporation is that Bally’s-Intralot is MBE-certified.

“We actually are MBE-certified which will give us space, participation and access in this space. We intend to make that known and understood that Bally’s is an NMSDC (National Minority Supplier Development Council) corporation. We’re the only one. We occupy a major, major procurement space for government. We now qualify on our own. The certification came through last year.”

Kim said the new company will honor all existing contracts.

“Over time, if we need to make changes, we will.”

 

April 8, 2026 NAACP Graphic   (TriceEdneyWire.com) - The NAACP is among those leading the call on the  President's cabinet, including Vice President Vance, cabinet secretaries,  or another body that could be assembled by Congress, to “invoke the 25th Amendment” of the U. S. Constitution in order to have President Donald Trump removed from office amidst what appears to be the loss of his mind to the extent that he could endanger masses of innocent lives in a “grave national security crisis”. The call, coming from the NAACP, Democratic members of Congress, activists and other political observers, has grown louder since Trump, joining with Israel, waged war against Iran – with no declaration of war by Congress. In addition to concerns about Trump’s history of what appears to be pathological lying, talk of the use of the 25th Amendment especially hit the fan on Easter Sunday morning, April 6. That was when Trump posted a profanity-laced threat to Iran on the day that is considered among the highest and holiest days on the Christian calendar as people prepared to worship in commemoration of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. With all curse words spelled completely out, Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform, “Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy b*****ds, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH. Praise be to Allah.” He was demanding that Iran open the Strait of Hormuz, which is a primary passageway for about 20 percent of the global oil supply, according to the New York Times. The next day, he threatened all of Iran – even innocent citizens – if there was no deal by 8 pm: "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to ​be brought back ​again. I don’t want that ‌to ⁠happen, but it probably will," he wrote on Truth Social. The NAACP responded Monday with an emailed note to its members, signed by its president/CEO Derrick Johnson: “The stability of our nation is hanging in the balance,” Johnson wrote. “In recent weeks, we have witnessed alarming signs of President Trump’s deteriorating health and increasingly delusional behavior. The rhetoric and actions coming from the highest office in the land have reached a level of instability that we cannot ignore. His behavior is not only alarming but dangerous.” The NAACP email continued, “This is no longer just a matter of political disagreement. It’s a grave national security crisis. A leader unable to think clearly or act decisively jeopardizes our military readiness, erodes public trust, and threatens the safety of millions of Americans. We cannot wait for further chaos. We must protect the fabric of our democracy right now.” The organization then listed three demands: ·         “Invoke the 25th Amendment: The Vice President and the Cabinet must step forward immediately to ensure the continuity of governance.” ·         “Remove the threat: We must address this presidential incapacity to protect our nation from further uncertainty.” ·         Congressional action: “Once the Vice President and the Cabinet step up, Congress must follow through and act with the urgency this situation demands to uphold the principles of our Constitution.” Section 4 of the Constitution’s 25th Amendment states as follows: “Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President. “Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. “Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.” It is not likely that there would be enough will to remove Trump from office given the dedication that the Republican majorities have maintained toward him. Besides, this week, Congress remained on Easter recess and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has not criticized Trump’s conduct, nor his war with Iran. The primary criticism is coming from Democrats. Still, the NAACP is adamant about what it feels must be done: “There’s no sugarcoating it,” Johnson concluded in his email. “President Trump has shown himself to be unfit, unwell, and unhinged. Together, we can force our leaders to prioritize the health and safety of our nation before it’s too late.”

April 3, 2026

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It has been reported that poor areas in Iran where people of African descent live have been among those first harmed. Others live there, too.  Research has not confirmed how many of the students in the girls’ school that was bombed in the war against Iran had African blood, but they were God’s children and many were poor. Here’s what research found. This is a heavily documented and actively unfolding story.

What is confirmed across multiple major investigations is that on February 28, 2026, the first day of the 2026 Iran war, the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ elementary school in the Shahrak-e Al-Mahdi neighborhood of Minab, Hormozgan province in southern Iran was destroyed by a missile strike. According to Iran state media, at least 175 people were killed, over 100 of them were school children. That is a tragedy no matter what their blood was.

The school was attended by a mix of children of military families and locals drawn by low tuition fees — some from the town of Minab itself, and others from outside. The fact that tuition was low might tell us many of the girls came from poor families. That would not be surprising. 

Regarding the specific claim about African children of domestic workers: Reporting on the demographics of Minab notes that the people of Minab are a braided population — Arab, Persian, Baloch, descendants of African traders who sailed the ancient Indian Ocean routes — and they speak a dialect, Bandari, that carries the influence of the Gulf coast in every syllable is true. That tells us it is likely some young girls of African descent were killed, and our hearts go out to all families of the girls no matter what their descent is.  No matter what, war is cruel and it is unforgivable that our military would be sent to the area where it was certain young schoolgirls would be killed.

I would not even support killing the schoolgirls of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard because children do not deserve having their lives taken because adults are acting without regard for the sanctity of life. How does a President of the United States tell the people he represents the idea that the Federal Government’s job is for military protection—not Medicaid, Medicare or Childcare! He went on to say states should just raise their taxes for those things!  How easy it is for him to dismiss the role we have been led to believe we pay Federal taxes for education of our people, healthcare, and so many necessities of life.Trump and Hegseth are acting like kids playing games!

This war is not one of support or choosing by the American people or our representatives in Washington who were not even consulted! People who’re still struggling to buy gasoline to get to work, to buy food for their families, to send their children to college or to afford a comfortable home to live, didn’t vote for what the man who thinks he is king to decide his only job is to do away with the things families need, so he and Hegseth can spend their time conducting their wars we don’t support!

Amnesty International, which interviewed a teacher in Minab, and a Baluchi human rights defender, found where the girls died were children of people across the board, including the IRGC personnel and low-income families from the area, who include members of Iran’s oppressed Baluchi ethnic minority whether they were of African descent or not.

The Afro-Iranian community in Hormozgan (descendants of enslaved Africans brought via the Gulf trade) is real and historically documented — but the domestic worker framing as it applies to this school’s population needs further sourcing to confirm.

May God help our country and protect us from our so-called leaders. Thanks to Pope Leo for speaking to the issue of war. It’s not for our monetary gain!

(Dr. E. Faye Williams, President of The Dick Gregory Society)

April 02, 2026

City of Philadelphia Fair Housing Image CREDIT: HUD Image

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - For nearly 60 years, April has observed Fair Housing Month. But this year, attorneys general (AGs) from 15 states and the District of Columbia recently filed a joint lawsuit seeking to ensure state and federal agencies will continue to fully enforce the landmark federal Fair Housing Act (FHA), first enacted in 1968 to protect people from unlawful housing discrimination and to punish bad actors.

Filed on March 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, the lawsuit alleges violations of the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedure Act. It also challenges a Trump administration executive order that directs HUD to end consideration of a crucial mechanism for combating housing discrimination: disparate impact.

 “HUD, without legal authority, is effectively undermining state laws that offer stronger protections than federal law,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who co-leads the effort. “My fellow attorneys general and I are united in our answer: not on our watch. HUD’s guidance is unlawful and would only roll back the progress we’ve made to keep our families safe from discrimination that limits where they can live.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the lawsuit’s other co-lead, offered similar comments.

“These actions are part of a broader, ongoing effort by the Trump administration to subvert the legal protections our country has put in place to combat discrimination and to tear down the hard-fought progress we have made for civil rights,” Raoul said. “I will continue to fight for fair access to housing for all Americans and for the rule of law.”  

In response to the lawsuit, HUD Secretary Scott Turner said, “Leftist state attorneys general have run to a San Francisco courthouse in a desperate attempt to obstruct President Trump’s America First agenda through political lawfare. Their latest stunt will not succeed.”

But for the thousands of people taking time and effort to file fair housing complaints, the law – not Trump’s agenda – remains the valid concern.

According to the National Fair Housing Alliance, 32,321 fair housing complaints were received in 2024, the most recent data available. Of these complaints, only 0.14 percent were processed by the Department of Justice and 4.85 percent were processed by HUD. The bulk of these complaints – 74.12 percent – were processed by only 82 private, non-profit fair housing organizations. Although this year’s approved HUD budget is $77.3 billion, only $86 million is allotted for fair housing, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. 

From the law’s inception, HUD and state and local agencies have operated in partnership through the Fair Housing Assistance Program (FHAP). HUD’s FHAP funds support investigations of housing discrimination complaints, lawsuit filings, staff training, and community outreach. 

The landmark law prohibits discrimination based on seven protected traits: (1) race, (2) color, (3) national origin, (4) religion, (5) sex, (6) familial status, (7) disability. Now HUD has threatened to decertify agencies wherever state laws expanded federal protected classes. In such locales, both complaint referrals and funding would be cut off. 

But state AGs say the FHA Act and its later amendments establish a floor — not a ceiling — for protection against housing discrimination.

The administration began fair housing rule rollbacks in January, when HUD published its intent to remove its discriminatory effects regulations and leave to courts questions related to interpretations of disparate impact liability under the Fair Housing Act.

That move took its cues from an April 2025 executive order (EO) entitled, Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy that states in part,  “It is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.”

After analyzing the EO, the Congressional Black Caucus issued its detailed opposition saying in part, “Without disparate impact liability, the agencies will now have to prove malicious intent in order to punish bad faith actors, which requires a much higher burden of proof and will lead to more instances of unchecked discrimination.”

Procedurally, proposed federal agency rules must allow a 30-day public comment period. As comments are reviewed, agencies can gain additional insights and opportunities to modify changes before finalization. By the time the 30-day public comment period on disparate impact expired, a total of 607 comments were filed - most in opposition to the change including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF).

“It’s clear the attacks on disparate impact are part of the administration’s broader efforts to undermine civil rights law,” said Demetria McCain, LDF’s Director of Policy. “Rather than fulfilling the promise of the Fair Housing Act and making housing affordable and accessible to everyone, HUD is abdicating its responsibilities and leaving communities at risk of deep social and economic harm… And we call on HUD to immediately reverse course with its gutting of the regulation and fulfill its duty to enforce it.”