AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - It's deadline day for Texas lottery bids.

Companies competing to run the $3 billion lottery have until Tuesday afternoon to enter bids with the state.

Three firms are expected to submit proposals: Scientific Games Corp., Intralot Inc. and GTECH Corp., which holds the current contract. The Texas lottery operations contract is a big one, and it rarely comes up for bid. So the stakes are high.

The winning company could make as much as $100 million per year.

The bidding has been caught in controversy this year because a consulting company the commission hired to help write the bid request had been doing business with GTECH. That led to questions about whether GTECH has an unfair advantage.

The Texas Lottery Commission has canceled the consultant company's deal.

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