Bally's is using battle over video gambling as excuse to slow construction at casino site, aldermen say
<p>A City Council majority on Wednesday accused Bally’s of using the ongoing battle over video gambling terminals in Chicago as an excuse to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/08/09/ballys-to-stop-work-on-some-amenities-at-permanent-chicago-casino-development-amid-video-gambling-dispute" >slow down construction</a> of a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex in River West that they contend Bally's can no longer afford to build.</p><p>The letter to Bally's was signed by 28 members of the renegade coalition that rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s corporate head tax and muscled through an alternative 2026 budget. That spending plan lifted the Chicago ban on video gambling, and assumed the city would generate $6.8 million by licensing newly legalized <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/09/16/video-gaming-in-chicago-proposal-anthony-beale-brandon-johnson" target="_blank" >video gambling terminals</a>.</p><p>It claims the company's unilateral decision to pause construction of “all non-gaming elements” of the casino complex — including the hotel, event center and some restaurants — is a violation of the company’s host agreement with the city.</p><p>The letter demands that Johnson enforce the agreement and ensure that Bally’s "delivers the complete project it committed to build.” </p><p>If Johnson refuses, the City Council majority says it will do it for him — by summoning Bally’s executives to a public hearing and perhaps filing a lawsuit against the gambling giant.</p><p>Legal action by the city would turn the tables on Bally’s, whose executives have threatened to sue the city and cancel its $4 million a year lump-sum payment to Chicago taxpayers in response to the City Council's authorization of video gambling terminals, which Bally's says violates the company’s host agreement.</p><p>“Final completion… expressly depends upon substantial completion of the hotel, retail, event space, exhibition space, greenspace, Riverwalk and other components — not merely the gaming floor,” the letter states.</p><p>“Continuing construction of the casino floor while slowing the hotel and other non-gaming portions does not eliminate those obligations” and constitutes a “material change” to the contract that requires City Council approval, the Council majority wrote.</p><p>Bally's responded with a statement saying it understands its host agreement obligations and is ready to explain to the Council its reasons for slowing down the project.
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<p>A City Council majority on Wednesday accused Bally’s of using the ongoing battle over video gambling terminals in Chicago as an excuse to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/08/09/ballys-to-stop-work-on-some-amenities-at-permanent-chicago-casino-development-amid-video-gambling-dispute" >slow down construction</a> of a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex in River West that they contend Bally's can no longer afford to build.</p><p>The letter to Bally's was signed by 28 members of the renegade coalition that rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s corporate head tax and muscled through an alternative 2026 budget. That spending plan lifted the Chicago ban on video gambling, and assumed the city would generate $6.8 million by licensing newly legalized <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/09/16/video-gaming-in-chicago-proposal-anthony-beale-brandon-johnson" target="_blank" >video gambling terminals</a>.</p><p>It claims the company's unilateral decision to pause construction of “all non-gaming elements” of the casino complex — including the hotel, event center and some restaurants — is a violation of the company’s host agreement with the city.</p><p>The letter demands that Johnson enforce the agreement and ensure that Bally’s "delivers the complete project it committed to build.” </p><p>If Johnson refuses, the City Council majority says it will do it for him — by summoning Bally’s executives to a public hearing and perhaps filing a lawsuit against the gambling giant.</p><p>Legal action by the city would turn the tables on Bally’s, whose executives have threatened to sue the city and cancel its $4 million a year lump-sum payment to Chicago taxpayers in response to the City Council's authorization of video gambling terminals, which Bally's says violates the company’s host agreement.</p><p>“Final completion… expressly depends upon substantial completion of the hotel, retail, event space, exhibition space, greenspace, Riverwalk and other components — not merely the gaming floor,” the letter states.</p><p>“Continuing construction of the casino floor while slowing the hotel and other non-gaming portions does not eliminate those obligations” and constitutes a “material change” to the contract that requires City Council approval, the Council majority wrote.</p><p>Bally's responded with a statement saying it understands its host agreement obligations and is ready to explain to the Council its reasons for slowing down the project. </p><p>"We have held up, and will hold up, our end of the bargain," Bally's stated. "We look forward to stating our case that VGTs will not benefit the City the way it has been represented, especially if their rollout will cause material detriment to our business." </p><p></p><p></p><p>The $1.7 billion casino project has encountered financial and logistical challenges since Bally’s was <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/5/25/23141244/ballys-casino-approved-chicago-city-council-river-west-medinah-temple-lightfoot-police-fire-pensions" target="_blank" >selected</a> to build Chicago’s casino in 2022, including an <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/casinos-gambling/2024/03/12/ballys-chicago-casino-buyout-soo-kim" target="_blank" >$800 million</a> “funding gap,” <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2024/1/22/24047289/ballys-casino-hotel-tower-plans-changes-city-hall-chicago-river" target="_blank" >changes to its hotel plans</a> and delays that pushed the permanent casino’s expected opening into 2027.</p><p>Downtown Ald.
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- <p>A City Council majority on Wednesday accused Bally’s of using the ongoing battle over video gambling terminals in Chicago as an excuse to <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2026/08/09/ballys-to-stop-work-on-some-amenities-at-permanent-chicago-casino-development-amid-video-gambling-dispute" >slow down construction</a> of a $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex in River West that they contend Bally's can no longer afford to build.</p><p>The letter to Bally's was signed by 28 members of the renegade coalition that rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s corporate head tax and muscled through an alternative 2026 budget. That spending plan lifted the Chicago ban on video gambling, and assumed the city would generate $6.8 million by licensing newly legalized <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/09/16/video-gaming-in-chicago-proposal-anthony-beale-brandon-johnson" target="_blank" >video gambling terminals</a>.</p><p>It claims the company's unilateral decision to pause construction of “all non-gaming elements” of the casino complex — including the hotel, event center and some restaurants — is a violation of the company’s host agreement with the city.</p><p>The letter demands that Johnson enforce the agreement and ensure that Bally’s "delivers the complete project it committed to build.” </p><p>If Johnson refuses, the City Council majority says it will do it for him — by summoning Bally’s executives to a public hearing and perhaps filing a lawsuit against the gambling giant.</p><p>Legal action by the city would turn the tables on Bally’s, whose executives have threatened to sue the city and cancel its $4 million a year lump-sum payment to Chicago taxpayers in response to the City Council's authorization of video gambling terminals, which Bally's says violates the company’s host agreement.</p><p>“Final completion… expressly depends upon substantial completion of the hotel, retail, event space, exhibition space, greenspace, Riverwalk and other components — not merely the gaming floor,” the letter states.</p><p>“Continuing construction of the casino floor while slowing the hotel and other non-gaming portions does not eliminate those obligations” and constitutes a “material change” to the contract that requires City Council approval, the Council majority wrote.</p><p>Bally's responded with a statement saying it understands its host agreement obligations and is ready to explain to the Council its reasons for slowing down the project.
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Bally's is using battle over video gambling as excuse to slow construction at casino site, aldermen say
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