AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Texas Lottery Commission is sanctioning International Game Technology (IGT), the vendor that provides lottery machines and technology, $180,000 because the agency claims the company violated its contract by making political contributions. However, IGT filed a lawsuit against TLC saying it did not violate the contract because its contributions were not made directly to any individual state officer or legislator. The commission notified IGT in a March 19 letter it is withholding $180,000 because the company made 18 "prohibited indirect gifts." The contract between TLC and IGT reads the company and its officers "shall not knowingly make a gift, loan or political contribution, either directly or indirectly, to any Texas State Officer or a member of the Texas State Legislature, during the term of this Contract." In a lawsuit filed in Travis County, IGT admitted it donated to the Texas Republican Legislative Caucus, Texas House Democratic Caucus, Texas Legislative Black Caucus (TLBC), and the Mexican American Legislative Caucus (MALC) while under contract with TLC, but the company, "was careful to insist that each of these contributions to the legislative caucuses be earmarked and used in a manner that ensured compliance with its contractual obligations to the Lottery Commission." You can read the full lawsuit with attachments below: IGT Lawsuit against TLCDownload IGT argues in its suit that gifts were given to legislative caucuses and not directly to any individual. It also points out that contributions made to the TLBC and the MALC were designated exclusively for "golf outings." The company attached examples of different contributions made to the caucuses. The checks stipulated the gift is not allowed to be used for "campaign contributions, directly or indirectly, to a Caucus member or political candidate." The company is asking for a judgement to declare its gifts were not in violation of its contract and that it did not knowingly pay any gifts to a state officer or individual legislator. Nexstar reached out to both the Texas Lottery Commission and IGT for a comment on the lawsuit. TLC said it does not comment on pending litigation. A spokesperson for IGT said in an email, "IGT and the Texas Lottery Commission (TLC) have a long history of successful partnership, and we are committed to compliance with our contractual obligations to the TLC. We respectfully disagree with TLC’s interpretation of an isolated contract provision and, through a request for declaratory relief, have asked the court, as a neutral third party, to provide clarity on the contractual language in question.  There is no available alternative avenue for obtaining this clarity." The IGT spokesperson said the company hopes to continue working with TLC. ...read more read less