2 Pro Gamblers At Harrah's Were Wrongly Prosecuted: Suit

JOLIET, IL — Two men who identify themselves in court papers as professional gamblers have filed a new civil lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse against Caesar's Entertainment, Harrah's Joliet, Illinois State Police Officer David Sandack and the Illinois Gaming Board for false arrest and malicious prosecution.

Originally, the case was filed in U.S. District Court, but it was dismissed about a year ago because the court ruled it lacked federal jurisdiction, the new lawsuit states. The lawsuit brought by Plainfield attorney Anthony Tomkiewicz on behalf of co-plaintiffs Paul Jovenich and Svetoslav Dorobanov involves their March 6, 2014 criminal indictment "for allegedly manipulating keno machines in ... the Harrah's Joliet Casino Hotel and for structuring their wins to avoid currency transaction reports."

According to the Plainfield lawyer, "the malicious prosecution" lasted for more than a year and resulted in time-consuming proceedings and court hearings for the two men.

"Each plaintiff faced between 14 and 22 felony charges deliberately designed to circumvent clear-cut cheating statute under the Illinois Riverboat Gaming Act, a statute under which, had plaintiffs been properly charged, it would have been self-evident to any reasonable grand jury that the plaintiffs were not guilty of any wrongdoing at all," their lawyer argues.

In 2014, former Joliet Patch staff writer Joe Hosey produced numerous stories about the plight of the two men, including the following headlines:"Las Vegas Man Charged With Cheating Joliet Harrah's Nabbed During Traffic Stop" and "Last 2 of 5 Alleged Joliet Gambling Cheats Arrested."

Between Feb. 7, 2015 and March 5, 2015, however, the prosecution completely collapsed, according to their lawsuit.

Now-retired Will County Circuit Judge Daniel Rozak "dismissed all charges upon directed verdict motion of the plaintiffs at the close of the state's case without need of any of the plaintiffs' testimony or evidence," their lawsuit notes.

"Similar criminal charges were brought in the state of Mississippi against friends and associates of the plaintiffs, Randy Binning, as well as two of Mr. Binning's lifelong friends, Rande and Virginia Thorpe, all of whom were tried together in Illinois in a single consolidated trial," the lawsuit states, explaining that their respective criminal charges were also later thrown out in Mississippi.

Key points raised in the new Will County civil lawsuit:

• "The plaintiffs are professional gamblers. They are sometimes known as 'advantage players' because their experience and ability give them a greater chance of winning than most players have in casino games."
• In April 2013 "Mr. Binning discovered that new keno machines at some Harrah's casinos appeared to be offering better payouts than is normally the case. He traveled that month from his home in Las Vegas to a Harrah's property in Joliet ... He played those particular machines over a period of approximately 18 days and won a significant amount of money."
• "There was nothing illegal about Mr. Binning playing those machines. He learned about these apparent better payouts from other casino patrons who had discovered them. He did not receive inside information from, or collude with, anyone at the manufacturing company."
• "After Mr. Binning discovered the advantageous keno machines he shared the information with a friend of his, plaintiff Dorobanov, who later shared the information with a friend of his, plaintiff Jovenich. They, too, left their homes in Las Vegas and traveled to Harrah's in Joliet to play the keno machines."
• "Despite their caution, the casino turned off the keno games approximately 48 hours after Mr. Dorobanov and Mr. Jovenich's arrival in Joliet. Mr. Binning informed them that the same thing happened in Tunica (Mississippi) the day before, so the end of this gaming opportunity did not come as a surprise to them ..."
• "Mr. Dorobanov ... returned his rental car and rented a new one from a different company. Little did he know that seemingly unnecessary precaution may have saved him from a civil forfeiture stop on their way home to Las Vegas. The trip home for Mr. Dorobanov and Mr. Jovenich was problem free, but on Mr. Binning's long journey from Tunica to Las Vegas in the same rental car he had used the week before in Joliet he ran into a police traffic stop in Flagstaff, Arizona, which resulted in confiscation of his cash winnings, just over $400,000. Within 48 hours, his safety deposit box in Bank of America in Joliet was seized by police as well, confiscating roughly another $190,000."
• The lawsuit goes on to explain that just two weeks before Jovenich and Dorobanov came to Joliet to play keno, Barton Davis and John Newmerzhycky won a World Series of Poker televised poker tournament at the Joliet Harrah's casino "and took their winnings, $100,000 in cash. As documented in their civil lawsuit, they were pulled over a police officer in Iowa on their way home to California. The officer confiscated their cash pending a drug investigation, much the same thing that happened to plaintiff Randy Binning. The Iowa officer quoted 'failure to signal' in his report but when his dash-cam disproved that, he was forced to admit that he was in fact acting on a 'be on the lookout' tip from another officer. The Davis case has drawn a lot of of attention for revealing how the civil forfeiture system is rife with corruption."

The new Will County lawsuit states that "the joint actions of Caesars and WMS Gaming and agent Sandack led to the plaintiffs' wrongful arrest and prosecution in Illinois. Each of these defendants - Caesar's, WMS, MGC and agent Sandack - acted maliciously. Each of them knew there was no probable cause to justify the arrest and indictment of the plaintiffs, yet they pursued the arrest and indictment anyway.

"[The] defendants fraudulently misled the judge, grand jury and prosecutors that the plaintiffs had committed structuring in order to avoid currency transaction reports," the lawsuit states. "Of the numerous reasons Judge Rozak cited why the state should not prevail on the structuring charges, one of the most relevant is that Harrah's casino had set up their slot machines and kiosks so that the players were unable to cash out more than $3,000 at a time, thus making it impossible for the plaintiffs to cash out $10,000 or more triggering CTRs."

Attorney Tomkiewicz states in legal filings that both of his clients suffered pain, illness, confinement in jail, harm to their reputations and attorneys fees resulting from their arrest and prosecution.

"Moreover, as a condition of bail, Mr. Dorobanov was denied the right to enter any other casino in the entire country. As Mr. Dorobanov is a professional poker player, this restriction caused him tremendous financial hardship. These damages were aggravated by the fact that Mr. Dorobanov's wife was pregnant with twins as he awaited trial."