'Illegal Inducement' Complaint Leveled Against Racino Planner

TINLEY PARK, IL — Rick Heidner, the CEO of Gold Rush Gaming who had plans to construct a "racino" — racetrack and casino — at the site of the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center at 183rd and Harlem, could now see his video gambling license taken away. The Illinois Gaming Board filed a complaint against Heidner and his company earlier this month alleging he offered a $5 million "illegal inducement" to a gambling parlor chain that planned to remove his slot machines, the Chicago Sun-Times and others have reported.

According to the Sun-Times report, the Gaming Board's complaint says the CEO of Laredo Hospitality Ventures told Heidner they were being bought by a new company that wanted to get rid of his slots. Heidner then allegedly responded with an offer to buy Laredo for $5 million more than the other company had offered for it to prevent the loss of revenue that would come with losing the slot machines in the hundreds of restaurants and bars Laredo used them in.

Heidner's media team sent out a statement defending him before news broke of the two-count complaint.

"The allegations are absolutely false, and Gold Rush and Rick Heidner will vigorously oppose the orchestrated smear campaign against them before the Gaming Board and in court," a spokeswoman for Heidner said in a news release.

Gold Rush will file its formal answer to the complaint within the allotted 21 days, the statement said.

Heidner's plans for the racino in Tinley Park hit a roadblock earlier this year when Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker informed the village of Tinley Park that the state would no longer sell the Mental Health Center property. Village officials had plans to buy the property from the state and then sell it to Heidner, who would then build the racino at the site.