Chicago — A federal jury on Monday found Illinois racetrack owner John Johnston liable on three counts in a civil racketeering case involving conduct engaged in by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and awarded $26.3 million in damages to four Illinois riverboat casinos including the Hollywood Casino Joliet and the Hollywood Casino Aurora.
Under the civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) statute, these damages are trebled, making the recovery over $78 million to the casinos.
The amounts awarded represent roughly the 3 percent tax money charged on Illinois’ four Chicagoland riverboat casinos between 2008 and 2010 that went to Johnston’s two racetracks, Balmoral and Maywood.
Additionally, the jury awarded the riverboats $4 million in punitive damages for the civil conspiracy claim made against Johnston personally. Each casino was awarded $1 million in punitive damages from Johnston.
“Mr. Johnston and Mr. Blagojevich conspired to subsidize Illinois’ racetracks on the backs of our shareholders,” commented Eric Schippers, Sr. Vice President of Public Affairs for Penn National Gaming. “Their actions at the time resulted in us having to reduce our workforce, cut back our marketing spend, and defer capital improvements. We are grateful to the jury for seeing through Mr. Johnston’s charade and for ordering him to return the money he and Gov. Blagojevich improperly took from us.”
Johnston defended claims under the civil RICO and state law claims, all of which arose out of alleged bribery of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2008. At the time, Blagojevich, was independently under investigation for this same bribery scheme as well as selling Barack Obama’s senate seat. The bribery that was the subject of this case was also the subject of Blagojevich’s own conviction, for which he is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence.