After years of working toward bringing a casino resort to Chicago, city officials officially welcomed the opening of a new Bally’s Casino property on Tuesday. The new temporary casino, located at Medinah Temple, will operate for at least three years while construction is underway for a permanent facility.
Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) was part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the property and welcomed gamblers to the first legal casino located within the city.
“To all of our residents and Illinoisans and everyone else: please come and — responsibly — spend your money at this casino,” Johnson said.
Windy City Casino Open for Business
Plans call for Bally’s to build a $1.7 billion casino at Freedom Center in the River West area, which is located on a property along the Chicago River. The permanent facility will include 3,400 slot machines, more than 170 table games, a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat entertainment venue, six restaurants, a food court, and three bars.
The company expects to start construction next year and complete the project by 2025 or 2026. The opening of the temporary facility comes after the Illinois casino received approval from the Illinois Gaming Board about three weeks ago. The 34,000-square-foot casino offers players 800 slots and 56 live table games. City leaders were pleased to finally see the property unveiled.
“I talk about how Chicago is the greatest freakin’ city in the world, and for those who did not know, now they know,” Johnson said during the ceremony. “And attractions like Bally’s continue to show why we are beloved and why we’re a destination for visitors from all over the globe.”
City officials believe the permanent casino will produce $200 million in annual tax revenue. That will be used to offset police and fire pension debt. The city also receives $55 million in annual tax revenue.
Additionally, Bally’s is paying an initial fee of $40 million and another $4 million annually to the city. Along with the casino’s construction, the company is also expected to make $75 million in infrastructure improvements.
The temporary casino is expected to produce 700 jobs along with thousands of construction jobs throughout the entire Bally’s project. The city is projecting $50 million in tax revenue a year from the temporary facility alone.
“This is more than just an entertainment venue,” Johnson said. “This project is going to secure Chicago’s fiscally strong and vibrant future.”
The casino won’t be without competition. The state has several other casinos in the surrounding area as well as in neighboring Indiana across the border.
Casino Ordered to Pay Slot Jackpot to Alleged Thief
The Nevada Gaming Control Board tackled a unique case on Wednesday involving the Casablanca casino in Mesquite, located about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. After Rhon Wilson won a $2,045.18 jackpot at the property, the casino appealed the case to state regulators.
Casablanca officials argued that the jackpot shouldn’t be paid because Wilson had been ordered to leave the property several times. Management barred him from entering the property and removed him seven times for trespassing after ordering drinks and not paying for them.
Over a few months of trespassing on the property, casino officials say Wilson won three jackpots. The casino argued that his continual violations should negate the wins.
“Your action will have a profound effect on all your licensees in the state of Nevada,” Dick Tomasso, vice president of security and government affairs for the property, said during the meeting. “Mr. Wilson was continually violating the trespass statute, seven times to be exact. He found it more profitable to pay a small fine and then return to the casino to gamble, knowing that the gaming enforcement policy would allow him to keep his winnings as they did three previous times he was caught violating the trespass statute.”
The board ultimately voted 2-1 that Wilson was entitled to the cash after a previous ruling by another regulator that Casablanca was bound to award the winnings. The ruling is final and offered a unique case where a player actually wins in these types of disputes with casinos.
“Player dispute appeal decisions rarely favor the gambler,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted. “Appeals normally are brought over unpaid jackpots occurring when a slot machine malfunctions.”
The ruling raises an issue that may bring further study from regulators. In the past, the commission has generally forced casinos to pay out winnings to players even though they may have been banned. However, Tomasso told the board that this was a different situation in that Wilson “broke the law when he entered a casino, he was still breaking the law while he was gaming. So he had to commit a crime in order to place a wager.”
