Remember that flap between (what was then) Caesars Entertainment Corporation and the Indiana Gaming Commission in early 2018 over whether the $50 million transfer fee imposed under the racino statute “on an initial licensee who sells or otherwise relinquishes a controlling interest … in a gambling game license” would be collected? As we explained then, because of the earlier Centaur Gaming buyout of Indiana Downs in bankruptcy, “there may be an issue as to whether only one $50 million assessment is in play, if even that.” Caesars sought to persuade solons and commissioners the transfer fee did not apply, but three months later, the world’s largest gaming company found itself having to pony up a $1 million fine for its conduct in threatening to pull the plug on the $85 million Harrison County land-side project if the Gameboys insisted upon that statutory $50 million transfer fee for the buyout of Centaur. Fast forward, however, to 2021. Caesars filed suit for damages and declaratory relief, Caesars Entertainment Corp., et al., v. Clairvest GP Manageco Inc., as Sellers Representative, et al., No. 653106/2020, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York County of New York relating to that $50 million fee, and is withholding a deferred payment to Centaur.
