In September, video gambling operator and real estate developer Rick Heidner proposed building a new racetrack and casino in Tinley Park, a southwest Chicago suburb. However, recently Kathleen M. Abbott, deputy general counsel at the state’s purchasing agency, has informed Tinley Park officials the state-owned land required for the racino no longer was for sale.
The news came following a Chicago Tribune investigation detailing Heidner’s business relationships with Parkway Bank Chairman Rocco Suspenzi and convicted felon bookie Dominic Buttitta, whose financial involvement with mobsters led to the demise of a Rosemont casino.
In sworn testimony before the Illinois Racing Board, Heidner said the board knew about his connections with these figures when it awarded him a video gambling license in 2012. He said he’s still in business with the people “in question.”
Heidner said, “My video gaming license was approved in 2012 after a 24-month intensive investigation. All my business relationships were disclosed to investigators, and the relationships in question were explicitly discussed with multiple Illinois Gaming Board agents and investigators. As these business relationships were ongoing, they had been disclosed and further discussed at each annual review of my licenses over the last seven years. I have no affiliation with the mafia at all.”
Heidner’s video gambling license is up for annual review in February 2020. Due to the letter stating the land was not for sale, the gaming board voted to exclude Heidner’s racino from getting any racing dates next year. A spokesman for his partner in the Tinley Park project, Hawthorne Race Course President Tim Carey, said Carey had relied on the gaming board to vet Heidner and that he would be looking for “new options” regarding the proposed racino.
At the September 17 racing board hearing, Heidner was congratulated for trying to help rebuild the harness-racing industry since the Balmoral and Maywood tracks closed. Board members were reassured that he had cleared a background check. But recently Racing Board Chairman Jeffrey Brincat clarified those checks are limited to submitting fingerprints for a criminal check and confirming the applicant has filed and paid taxes. He said the racing board has no “police powers” to conduct a background investigation.
The letter from Abbott stated, “As you know, the state of Illinois has been reviewing its portfolio of assets, and has engaged in preliminary discussions with the Village of Tinley Park regarding the Tinley Park Mental Health Center. I write to inform you that the state has determined that it will not sell the TPMHC at this time.”
Tinley Park Village Manager David Niemeyer was shocked over the Tribune findings. “The Village of Tinley Park was as blindsided as the state of Illinois was by the recent allegations in the media over the weekend related to Rick Heidner. The village is currently assessing its options going forward. We still strongly believe the racino is an outstanding project that will bring significant jobs and tax revenues to the state, the south suburban region and the village due to its superb location and other tourism related facilities in the area.”
Tinley Park had been negotiating to purchase the 280-acre mental health center tract from the state, and then sell it to Heidner’s Gold Rush Gaming for the racino. The development would have included a hotel and entertainment complex along with gambling and racing operations.
