{"id":305964,"date":"2024-01-08T19:19:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-09T01:19:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=305964"},"modified":"2024-01-09T12:33:19","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T18:33:19","slug":"lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"Lucky Bucks RICO Suit Filed Alleging $200M Fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former employees of the Georgia-based slot machine operator Lucky Bucks fraudulently siphoned \u2018illegal dividends\u2019 out of the company before its recent bankruptcy. That’s according to a RICO lawsuit<\/a> filed by the company\u2019s new management.<\/p>\n

\"Lucky
Lucky Bucks COAMS, above. These are \u201cskill-based\u201d machines that dispense vouchers or lottery tickets to winners in Georgia. The lawsuit claims previous management siphoned off $200 million before the company\u2019s bankruptcy last year. (Image: Lucky Bucks\/ Arc Gaming)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The suit, filed last Thursday, accuses 10 individuals and a dozen associated entities of looting the company of approximately $200 million before it collapsed into bankruptcy last year.<\/p>\n

\n

Lucky Bucks operated around 2,300 gaming machines in 345 locations throughout Georgia. These weren’t Las Vegas-style slots, but \u201cCOAMS\u201d<\/a> (coin-operated amusement machines), as they\u2019re known locally. These are \u201cskill-based\u201d gaming terminals that offer vouchers or lottery tickets as prizes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Lucky Bucks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in June 2023. The company declared more than $500 million in debt, citing increased competition, rising interest rates, an economic environment that decreased consumer use of slot machines, and an escalation of regulatory enforcement against the COAM industry<\/a> in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u2018Illegal Dividends\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Lucky Bucks was rescued by its primary lenders, who have injected fresh capital and rebranded it as Arc Gaming and Technologies. Its Chapter 11 plan was approved by a Delaware bankruptcy court in July last year.<\/p>\n

The new owners claim that Lucky Bucks\u2019 founder and former owner, Anil Damani, and his team engaged in a scheme to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from lenders and share the proceeds among themselves.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A state regulator prohibited Damani from being involved in the company\u2019s operations in June 2020, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

In all, it names nine former high-ranking employees, one contractor, and a dozen associated entities. It accuses them of defrauding the company by diverting $200 million in \u201cillegal dividends\u201d before declaring bankruptcy.<\/p>\n

Methods included redirecting contracts away from Lucky Bucks before selling them back at marked-up rates, and simply chiseling serial numbers off machines before selling them, the suit says.<\/p>\n

\u2018Baseless Claims\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The plaintiffs also claim the defendants attempted to conceal their activities by communicating through an encrypted messaging app and by deleting files and business records from the company\u2019s computers.<\/p>\n

The alleged fraud was pieced together by the new management team\u2019s investigators, who analyzed IT systems and conducted interviews with employees, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\n

An attorney for Damani, Scott R. Grubman, told Bloomberg<\/em> that the allegations were \u201cbaseless\u201d and described his client as \u201ca successful businessman and a pillar of his community.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Grubman added that his client looked forward to defeating the claims in court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former employees of the Georgia-based slot machine operator Lucky Bucks fraudulently siphoned \u2018illegal dividends\u2019 out of the company before its recent bankruptcy. That’s according to a RICO lawsuit filed by the company\u2019s new management. The suit, filed last Thursday, accuses 10 individuals and a dozen associated entities of looting the company of approximately $200 million […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":305965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,60,69293,86436],"tags":[89404,89403,89405],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLucky Bucks RICO Suit Filed Alleging $200M Fraud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Georgia COAM operator Lucky Bucks fraudulently siphoned \u2018illegal dividends\u2019 out of the company prior to bankruptcy, per RICO suit.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lucky Bucks RICO Suit Filed Alleging $200M Fraud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Georgia COAM operator Lucky Bucks fraudulently siphoned \u2018illegal dividends\u2019 out of the company prior to bankruptcy, per RICO suit.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T01:19:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-09T18:33:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucky-Bucks.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1041\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"666\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/\",\"name\":\"Lucky Bucks RICO Suit Filed Alleging $200M Fraud\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucky-Bucks.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-01-09T01:19:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-09T18:33:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Georgia COAM operator Lucky Bucks fraudulently siphoned \u2018illegal dividends\u2019 out of the company prior to bankruptcy, per RICO suit.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lucky-bucks-rico-suit-filed-alleging-200m-fraud\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucky-Bucks.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Lucky-Bucks.jpg\",\"width\":1041,\"height\":666,\"caption\":\"Lucky Bucks COAMS, above. 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