Bally’s Chicago at Risk of Not Being Built, Says City Alderman Brian Hopkins
Posted on: November 18, 2023, 11:01h.
Last updated on: November 19, 2023, 04:47h.
The $1.7 billion permanent Bally’s Chicago integrated casino resort to be built at the Freedom Center and to open before a state-mandated deadline of Sept. 9, 2026, is at risk of not happening. That’s according to city Alderman Brian Hopkins (D-Ward 2), a vocal critic of the Bally’s Corporation being picked for the downtown city casino opportunity.
![Bally's Chicago casino Illinois](https://www.casino.org/news/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/101921-Wicker-Park-Safety-Walk-Colin-Boyle-6972-858x573.jpg)
Illinois lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker (D) in 2019 expanded gaming in the state by authorizing an integrated resort casino in downtown Chicago and allowing five smaller casinos to open in the Windy City suburbs. Illinois lawmakers and Pritzker turned to gaming to help fund the state’s massive infrastructure spending plan and efforts to better endow the city’s police and fire pension programs.
Then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) in May 2022 picked Bally’s for the downtown Chicago casino. Bally’s was selected over rival bids from Hard Rock International and Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming.
Bally’s, Lightfoot said, presented the city with the best offer. The company paid the city $40 million upon being selected and has agreed to direct Chicago $4 million a year in addition to gaming and other taxes.
As for the casino, the permanent resort is projected to employ 3,000 workers. The gaming floor is to include 3,400 slot machines, 170 table games, and a sportsbook. A resort hotel is to offer 500 rooms and be accompanied by six restaurants, a 3,000-seat theater, and an outdoor amphitheater.
Financing Concerns
Bally’s was allowed to open a temporary casino in Chicago to help finance the larger permanent resort. Bally’s Chicago’s provisional gaming space opened inside the Medinah Temple in September and won nearly $6.7 million that month.
Gaming revenue has since slowed. Bally’s reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of just $7.6 million during its first full month in October. The temporary casino attracted 2,681 patrons a day in October, down from more than 3,300 a day in September.
Hopkins says Bally’s was the wrong company to go with, and says it was one of Lightfoot’s worst decisions. He also casts blame on the City Council for approving the Bally’s pick.
Hopkins was one of only two aldermen to oppose the Bally’s selection, with Ald. Brendan Reilly (D-Ward 42) the other.
Wrong Pick
Hopkins during last week’s City Council meeting said Bally’s Chicago’s temporary casino is already underperforming. That could lead to the company not having the financial wherewithal to bring the $1.7 billion project to reality.
Bally’s has already indicated that they’re not in a hurry to start construction. They’re years away from it,” Hopkins said. “They don’t have the money to do it. They were counting on the cash flow from the Medinah Temple site to fund the construction project, and right now, they don’t have it. The signs are on the wall that they’re going to stay (at Medinah) longer.”
Hopkins during the application period warned his fellow alderpersons that Bally’s is too inexperienced for the job.
The current Bally’s Corp. was formed after Rhode Island-based Twin River Worldwide Holdings acquired the Bally’s brand from Caesars Entertainment in 2020. The corporation has never built an integrated resort of such scale on its own. The company is controlled by hedge fund Standard General and its billionaire Soo Kim.
The real risk now is that they turn [Medinah Temple] into a permanent temporary site where it just keeps getting renewed over and over again,” Hopkins continued. “That’s not what we needed. We’ve been talking about a Chicago-based casino license for years, and what we finally end up with after all this is woefully inadequate. It’s really sad.”
Bally’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Last Comments ( 5 )
Would Bally's really put their first Pennsylvania casino inside an old Macy's department store? There are a lot more fun destinations than one like that! What are the odds that will be a successful venue? Slim to none.
Just an easy question here. The answer is not quite as easy. Does anyone realize that Bally's Corporation does not yet even own that former Nittany Mall Macy's department store right now? Who owns it? The current property owners of that store might fail to see the humor when local photographers along with the senior leadership of Bally's shows up with shovels to "break ground" at a place that Bally's doesn't even own yet. How will those ownership arrangements be quickly sorted out before then? Oh, perhaps they already have. It kinda sounds like a promise to me.
Things to come with the Tropicana site here in Vegas?
Speaking of risk with brick-and-mortar casinos, if somehow Bally's eventually gets a green light to open their planned casino only four miles from Penn State University, they will probably quickly start building their first brick-and-mortar casino in Pennsylvania. That casino's location will be inside the former Macy's department store in the struggling Nittany Mall in State College. Does anyone realize that Bally's does not even own that former Macy's store right now? Is that first heard news for you? So how can Bally's hope to start construction there if they receive that green light to build in the near future? Remember to not ask questions you don't want to hear the answer to.
What is the city of Chicago's recourse if Bally's doesn't follow through on its commitments? What recourse do the other competing casino developers who would have followed through on their promises have? Might Soo Kim be a modern day King Pyrrhus, whose victories winning the rights for the casino in Chicago and purchasing Trump's overpriced golf course in New York will ultimately undo him?