Twin River claims Governor’s Chief of Staff threatened casino company

By: Ellie Romano

Email: ERomano@ABC6.com

Twitter: @ERomanoABC6

PROVIDENCE, R.I (WLNE) – An executive of Twin River World Wide Holdings claims Governor Gina Raimondo’s Chief of Staff threatened the casino company in June.

Marc Crisafulli, the Executive Vice President of Twin River, wrote a letter to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee in which he alleges Brett Smiley called Crisafulli three times on June 27th. Crisafulli claims during that call, Smiley said if Twin River opposed the IGT legislation, the casino company would suffer the consequences. 

That legislation would extend IGT’s control of the state lottery for another 20 years. The contract is worth $1 billion and is currently being reviewed by the General Assembly. Crisafulli has been fighting to get the contract put out to bid for months.

Both the governor and Smiley claim no threat was ever made.

“I have talked to my Chief of Staff more than once, he assures me there was no threat,” said Governor Raimondo.

Smiley released the following statement: 

“I spoke with Mr. Crisafulli several times over many weeks and never once made a threat. That is not how I conduct myself. The day the legislation was introduced, I gave him a courtesy call to let him know that the General Assembly was moving forward, but that the proposal did not include Twin River getting VLTs. He was not happy with that news and it was a tense call. I also told him the State’s broader relationship with Twin River is important and I hope we’ll find other ways to help them grow their business. It’s unfortunate that they would make this accusation months later at the conclusion of the public hearings.”

 Members of the General Assembly are now investigating the accusation.

“Somebody is not telling the truth,” said Senator Louis DiPalma. 

Senate President Dominick Ruggerio released the following statement on the matter: 

“We don’t know what was said between the Administration and Twin River. What we do know is that both Twin River and IGT are valuable partners for our state, and will continue to be well into the future no matter what happens with the pending legislation.  We need to stop the finger-pointing and work together to find an amicable resolution for all parties for the benefit of the people of Rhode Island.”

It should be noted, the state fined Twin River $180,000 last week for violating a term in its business license. 

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