Pick six inquiry put at $1.1M

Scientific Games Inc., the parent company of Autotote, said on Friday that its costs related to last year's Breeders' Cup pick six investigation were $1.1 million in 2002.

The costs included expenses for the investigation and the installation of new security programs to monitor the company computer systems. Late in 2002, Autotote hired eSuccess, a security company, to install monitoring software at all of its U.S. sites.

Overall, the costs did little to affect the 2002 financial results for Scientific Games. The company, which draws the majority of its revenue from its lottery business, had net income of $52.1 million in 2002, largely because of an income-tax benefit of $42.4 million.

Autotote, the largest bet-processing company in the U.S., was heavily scrutinized in the pick six investigation. One of its former employees, senior programmer Chris Harn, has pleaded guilty to felony charges of fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced March 20.

Operating income for Autotote in 2002 was $12.9 million, the company said. The unit had $87.2 million in revenues in 2002.