The Super Bowl games are scheduled to start on 2nd February in Miami, Florida. According to Casino.org, Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) will start receiving licenses application in this month. Casinos, horse racetracks, professional sports arenas are expected to apply for the license. However, they haven’t announced the time this exercise will take.
Cracking down on an illegal video gambling operator, Illinois Gaming Board has moved to revoke its license. The gambling regulator has alleged that the gambling operator had offered a $5 million “illegal inducement.”
Illinois Is Poised to Become the Gambling Capital of the Midwest. And like the state’s last gambling expansion, in 2009, the massive new bill could bring trouble. Dec 26, 2019 The Illinois Gaming Board has accused Gold Rush Gaming owner Rick Heidner of offering a $5 million “illegal inducement” to a gambling parlor chain owner. ILLINOIS GAMING BOARD Monthly Riverboat Casino Report Docksite / Riverboat Casino April 2019 March 2019% Change April 2019 April 2018% Change 2019 2018% Change ALTON - ARGOSY $ 3,518,263 $ 4,327,859 -18.71% $ 3,518,263 $ 3,909,241 -10.00% $ 14,821,212 $ 15,461,632 -4.14%.
According to an Associated Press report, Heidner was “allegedly told his Gold Rush Gaming would have its machines removed from 44 establishments owned by Laredo Hospitality Ventures because of the company’s new owner, according to a December Gaming Board complaint.”
However, a few days after the complaint was made, Heidner allegedly made an offer to acquire Laredo. The deal for $5 million was never finalized.
According to the existing gambling regulations in Illinois, it is a felony to give “anything of value to an establishment as an incentive or inducement to locate (video gambling terminals) in that establishment.”
Illinois Casino Revenue
While the gambling regulator is moving to revoke the video gambling operator’s license, Heidner himself hasn’t been charged for a felony. A representative on behalf of the gambling operator has rubbished the allegations and said that they are not true.
Refuting the allegations spokesman Randall Samborn explained that both Gold Rush and Rick Heidner willfully oppose the allegations and has termed it as an “orchestrated smear campaign” against the operator. He said that they will challenge the license revocation before the gambling regulator and will also fight it in court.
Earlier, Heidner’s name appeared in an FBI search warrant of then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval’s offices. However, the current governor J.B Pritzker who also signed the massive gambling expansion bill in Illinois earlier this year has overturned the previous decision of the governor’s office to state-owned land to Heidner for a racetrack and casino project.
Illinois Gaming Board
Source: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2019/12/26/illinois-gaming-board-rick-heidner-gold-rush-gaming-license/ , https://www.chicagotribune.com/investigations/ct-rick-heidner-video-gambling-license-revocation-20191218-hksxbsjwnnhnvlyjidassomj5m-story.html