Ohio Lottery Commission: New Austintown racino monitoring system caused 'issues,' but now resolved

Anyone who has recently gone to Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course may have noticed that several of the Video Lottery Terminals were not operational.

21 News reached out to the Ohio Lottery Commission, which oversees VLTs in the state, to see why the gaming machines were down. 

Danielle Frizzi-Bab with the Ohio Lottery Commission told 21 News that all racinos are undergoing an upgrade to a new central monitoring system. 

Ohio awarded International Game Technology a contract through 2033 to monitor more than 10,000 VLTs in the seven racinos throughout the state, including here in Austintown. Cleveland.com reported that the contract for the racinos cost $50 million.

Frizzi-Bab said Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley was the first racino to receive the update; however, IGT, the vendor running the new system, "ran into some issues that delayed the initial transition."

According to the Lottery spokesperson, "The issues have been resolved and the conversion is back on track."