The Ohio Lottery Commission acted properly when it awarded a multimillion-dollar contract for online games to a new vendor last year, a Franklin County judge ruled yesterday.

The decision by Judge John F. Bender means the commission can proceed with using Intralot SA instead of longtime vendor Gtech to offer Mega Millions, Pick 3, Keno and other online games starting July 1.

"I am grateful to Judge Bender for confirming what I always believed: that the entire process was always objective and fair," Lottery Director Michael A. Dolan said in a statement.

Dolan said Gtech has 30 days to appeal. A Gtech representative could not be reached for comment last night.

Tom Little, U.S. president of the Greece-based Intralot, said he was pleased by the ruling and that "everything is going quite well" with the transition to having his company take over the lottery games in July.

Lottery officials have said the contract, approved last June, could save the state $20 million a year over Gtech's current prices and $3 million a year over what Gtech proposed in the new contract.

In a 49-page ruling issued yesterday after a five-day trial last year, Bender, of Franklin County Common Pleas Court, denied a request by Gtech for an order blocking the state's contact with Intralot.

Gtech, which had operated the Ohio Lottery games since 1985, said in its lawsuit that Dolan and the commission misapplied the law or abused its discretion in awarding the contract to Intralot.

Specifically, Gtech argued that Dolan and the lottery acted improperly in four ways, including by accepting Intralot's bid even though it did not meet the requirements and by not disclosing more details about how the proposals would be scored.

Bender rejected each Gtech argument, ruling that the actions by Dolan and the commission were reasonable.

The contract is for two years with the option of four two-year renewals, for a total potential cost of $170 million over 10 years, lottery spokeswoman Jeannie Roberts said.

The state is in the process of changing its 8,300 retail terminals from Gtech to Intralot.

mniquette@dispatch.com