In legal filings, Heidner contends the $44.5 million that Midwest SRO put up in the sale amounts to an inducement to get Fischer to use their machines in the gambling cafes.Īttorneys for Fischer and Midwest SRO have denied there was any improper dealing in the transaction. Heidner has alleged that a second law was violated: the one banning video poker machine suppliers from paying inducements to gambling cafe owners to use their machines.

“I exited that business with full compliance of all gaming laws and regulations and full, advanced disclosure of the transaction and its terms to the Illinois Gaming Board,” Leff said in a statement. His contacts in the gaming industry were valuable enough to justify the payments to buy out his noncompete agreement, his attorneys said. Leff wanted out of Laredo for the same financial reasons, his attorneys said. … This business has just not been gangbusters.” “I have no problem justifying the economics and being right. “I probably overpaid at $2 million,” Fischer said in an interview. “The transaction appears to be a scheme to get (Laredo Hospitality Ventures) establishments under the control of (Midwest) SRO in an attempt to create a (terminal operator) that essentially owns/controls the establishments it serves,” the Gaming Board report states.įischer stands by his claim that Laredo’s cafes were only worth $2 million because of overhead costs and revenue-splitting arrangements with the machine supplier and the state.

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