Bally’s Chicago Casino Revenue Hits Record High, Work to Begin on Permanent Resort
Posted on: June 9, 2024, 01:01h.
Last updated on: June 10, 2024, 09:48h.
The temporary Bally’s casino located in Chicago’s Medinah Temple experienced unprecedented gaming play in May.
The Illinois Gaming Control Board (IGCB) reports that the Bally’s casino located at 600 N. Wabash Avenue near the Magnificent Mile won more than $11.73 million from players last month. Slots accounted for $6.98 million while table games won $4.75 million.
May’s $11.7 million haul represents the Bally’s Chicago casino’s best month to date. The 35,000-square-foot gaming facility opened last September.
Our continued growth demonstrates Bally’s Chicago’s popularity with locals and tourists alike, aligns with our community engagement initiatives, and supports our dedication to responsible gaming,” said Mark Wong, vice president and general manager.
Wong said the Bally’s Chicago casino continues to welcome new players into the property’s rewards program. Last month, the total number of enrollees climbed past the 90,000-person mark.
Bally’s Chicago features 800 slot machines and 56 live dealer table games.
Facility Remains Short of Projections
The temporary casino will continue to operate as Bally’s Corp. builds its permanent integrated resort property at the Freedom Center. The Rhode Island-based gaming firm is to take possession of the former Chicago Tribune printing plant early next month.
Bally’s is targeting to open the downtown Windy City casino and resort in 2026. The development is to include a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants, and a casino with 4,000 gaming positions. Bally’s Chicago will become the largest casino in Illinois.
Funding the project, however, hasn’t been easy. Bally’s continues to seek about $800 million to support the $1.7 billion undertaking. Despite the funding shortfall, Wong says the project remains “on track to open” in September 2026.
May’s revenue report for the temporary casino is much-welcomed and needed news for Bally’s. The provisional gaming facility has greatly lagged behind pre-opening revenue forecasts made by city officials and the casino company. Though May was the casino’s best month to date, the revenue remains shy of estimates.
The city last year estimated that the temporary Bally’s Chicago would win $242.7 million from players in 2024, or about $20.22 million a month. From January through May, the casino won $52.36 million, or about $10.47 million a month.
Demolition Forthcoming
Wong told the Chicago Tribune that Bally’s will prep the Freedom Center for demolition after becoming the complex’s owner next month. Bally’s paid the media group’s parent company, Tribune Publishing, $150 million for the property.
The Freedom Center opened in 1982 at a cost of $185 million. The 659,000-square-foot facility is where several newspapers were printed. Along with the Chicago Tribune, the Freedom Center was the printing hub of the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader, and The New York Times‘ Midwest distribution.
The newspapers’ publishing has since been relocated to the Paddock Printing Center in Schaumburg northwest of the Chicago Loop about 10 miles northwest of O’Hare International Airport.
Tribune officials have continued to maintain three printing presses inside the Freedom Center in the case of an emergency breakdown at Schaumburg. But with several weeks of successful printing in the bag at Paddock, the publishing company plans to power down the Freedom Center presses on Sunday night.
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Tomorrow is the Fourth of July. How many of those required permits have been received? How many have been applied for? Let's watch to see how much is accomplished by Labor Day.
Don't bet on Bally's!
Take a quick look where Bally's (BALY) stock price has been stuck since January 1st. It now hovers in the $12.00 range nearly every day. Hitting $13.00 and staying above that seems to now be out of the question for them. No wonder Bally's Chairman Soo Kim wisely offered just $15.00 per share in his takeover bid to take the company private. A more sensible investment in the AI sector would absolutely be a decision to cheer about. Bally's? Not so much!
With revenue numbers like these, it is no wonder that Bally's had to ask Rhode Island for additional concessions including an increase in its leverage limits. What additional concessions will Bally's ask for from the people of Chicago?
Mike Pence had a more realistic chance of winning the 2024 Presidential election than Bally's now has in their hope to build a successful casino anywhere. Strong emphasis here on the word "anywhere."
How many other financial "irons are in the fire" right now for brand-new brick-and-mortar Bally's casino locations? One is the planned $120 million land-based Bally's casino near the Nittany Mall in State College, PA. At least construction there will be easier since that casino location is a vacant former Macy's store near (actually in) that shopping mall. The approval or denial of the formal issuance of the State College casino license has been held up since 2021 due to legal wranglings between the non-winning bidder and the winning bidder. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has taken jurisdiction of the case and will hear arguments at a future date yet to be determined. Some not so brilliant business plans underway, right? Who picked that State College location anyway? Are they still one of the current Bally's decision-makers?
Wait a minute! What about ongoing investigations that are not mentioned above? In early December, reporters at PlayIllinois.com revealed that Bally’s Chicago is drawing the eye of both local and federal investigators. That was according to Crain’s Chicago Business, which reports that authorities are looking at the bidding process that resulted in Bally’s winning the opportunity to construct a casino in Chicago. The probes were spurred by complaints from unsuccessful bidders, the report said. No one close to the investigations has commented on the probes. However, Chicago Alderman Brian Hopkins confirmed the federal investigation, and claimed the entire Bally’s Chicago project could be at risk of coming to a complete halt. The federal investigation is reportedly being spearheaded by the U.S. Attorney's Office. City of Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg is reportedly running the city’s investigation. Early December was just over six months ago. In the interest of transparency, please provide us with an update. Are those two investigations still underway or are there more than two?
Bally's (and others) apparently already forgot about the Chicago investigations reportedly going on about how Bally's was selected by the City of Chicago's leaders. Did the media also forget about that? Ask Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg if she forgot all about it. As Jacob McCandles said often in Big Jake, "Not hardly."