Good morning, Washington! The weather gods have decided to mix it up a little bit today, blessing us with a little less humidity than normal. Don't worry about big meteorological shake ups, though—temperatures will still be in the familiar mid-90s range.
The Washington Times continues its reporting on the sketchy D.C. lottery contract with the [...]

The lucrative and long-controversial lottery contract has finally passed the D.C. Council.
Intralot, a Greek-owned multinational firm, has been approved to take over the city's online number games from longtime operator Lottery Technology Enterprises—a contract worth nearly $40 million over five years. The company's successful first bid ended in a political fiasco, with several councilmembers refusing [...]

Two weeks from today, bids are due on the D.C. Lottery contract.
But who will step up?
The big question is: Which local business types will each of the three major global lottery equipment providers tap for a partnership? Tapping locals earns each company points in the procurement process and also helps grease the political skids.
Last month, [...]

The parties behind Lottery Technology Enterprises, the firm that’s run the District’s lottery for more than 25 years, have split up, likely ending the chances for politically connected businessman P. Leonard Manning to continue his control over the city’s numbers games.
According to three sources with knowledge of the situation, lottery provider GTECH and Manning’s New [...]

OK, the D.C. Council is about to take up an approval resolution on the W2I lottery contract—the last stand in a nine-month-long drama. If you have no idea what LL is talking about here, either read up or move on, 'cause there's a lot of backstory here.
Long story short: Mayor Adrian M. Fenty wants the [...]