Hoffman Estates-based video gambling company to pay fine as part of settlement with gaming board
A Hoffman Estates-based video gambling company will pay a fine and fees totaling $75,000 to settle a disciplinary complaint before the Illinois Gaming Board.
Gold Rush Gaming will pay the board $45,000 to cover costs associated with the complaint. The company also will pay a $30,000 fine for disparaging text messages its owner, Barrington Hills resident Rick Heidner, sent in 2019 to a professional rival.
Upon payment, the gaming board will end its investigation and dismiss the complaint, the settlement states.
Additionally, Gold Rush and Heidner agreed to dismiss two lawsuits they filed last year against the state board. Heidner and his company had alleged the board wrongfully denied requests for public documents and that they had been harmed by the release of personal and financial information by a board agent.
According to the settlement, the state agency had been investigating whether Heidner violated state law and gaming board rules by offering to help arrange a purchase of 60 video gaming cafes for $5 million more than a rival had paid for them in 2018.
Gold Rush had contracts to serve as the terminal operator for 44 of the businesses at the time, the company said in a news release.
Gold Rush denied the accusation of misconduct.
Under the pact, Gold Rush's license will be renewed retroactively to this past February, the company said.