BEN NUCKOLS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The District of Columbia’s chief financial officer has abandoned his plans to combine the city’s two lucrative lottery contracts.

CFO Jeffrey DeWitt had proposed soliciting bids from a single vendor or partnership to supply the city with both its numbers games and instant tickets.

Instead, DeWitt is now asking the D.C. Council to approve a 5-year extension of Intralot’s numbers-game contract, worth $38 million. Spokesman David Umansky said Thursday DeWitt decided against combining the contracts after hearing from the council and the business community.

Umansky says the office is now purchasing instant tickets directly from the three companies that print them.

Both contracts have been mired in controversy, and the district has been without a permanent instant-ticket supplier since the council rejected a proposed new contract last year.

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