Gold Rush Gaming Inc. recently filed a countersuit against Illinois based gaming cafes. The company alleges that the gaming cafes were engaged in a conspiracy against it.

Gold Rush claims a conspiracy theory was designed

Gold Rush is involved in a civil lawsuit in Illinois filed by Stella’s and Shelby’s gaming café chains in the state. The company recently amended its counterclaims in the case, suggesting that Daniel Fischer, a gaming businessman, paid about $2 million for 63-locations in the Chicago area. On the other hand, a rival for Gold Rush pitched a 22x higher amount to the seller.

There was an elaborate conspiracy to get its machines out of Stella’s and Shelby’s locations since at least 2018. Gold Rush claims that it found out about the scheme a judge in the case removed confidentiality restrictions from some documents. These documents were shared between Illinois Café and Service Company (ICSC) which is owned by Fischer and Midwest SRO which is a gaming terminal operator. Another party involved in the case is Laredo Hospitality Ventures LLC which previously owned the gaming café chain. ICSC also runs the Dotty’s chain of gaming cafes in the state.

Dubious transactions

According to Gold Rush, the documents reveal transactions that violated the anti-inducement rules of the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB). It also suggests that the transaction isn’t in agreement with the Illinois Video Gaming Act. It suggests that the agreement,

“essentially seeks to create a vertically integrated video gaming entity that owns, operates, and maintains video gaming terminals… and hosts video gaming terminals.”

The state laws suggest that there will be a 30% tax on the net income of the machines, of which 5% which go to the municipality where the machines are located. Less than one percent of the proceeds go to Scientific Games, which built and monitors the network that allows the IGB to monitor the games. The remainder is split between the vendor and the host.

Gold Rush suggests that the scheming began in 2013 when Gold Rush received agreements with Stella’s and Shelby’s cafes in the state. By January 2018, the gaming firm has also made arrangements with 44 venues.