Bally's bullish Chicago on casino prospects as demolition begins for permanent River West site
As excavators make way for Chicago’s future mega-casino, the leader of the corporation behind the River West development believes Bally’s is poised to start “eating a lot of people’s lunches” in an Illinois gambling market already saturated with numerous casinos and video gaming options.
Bally’s chairman Soo Kim made that confident declaration after a whirlwind summer for Bally’s was capped Tuesday with crews beginning demolition of the former Chicago Tribune printing plant at 777 W. Chicago Ave. The site is slated to be transformed into a casino by September 2026.
Kim brushed aside critics — including some from City Hall — who have questioned whether Rhode Island-based Bally’s could complete the $1.34 billion casino project, let alone compete in a region that already has more places to gamble than Las Vegas.
“I think this is probably why they spend so much time pooh-poohing our stuff, because let me tell you: We're going to be eating a lot of people's lunches. Most importantly, Indiana,” Kim said during a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board. “It’s not great for Illinois that all that [gambling] money goes to Indiana.”
“The amenities that we’ll have, like a 500-room hotel tower, at four-star level or better,” Kim said. “It won’t even be close. It’ll be like one thing, and then everything else. We’re looking forward to that.”
Behind red and white smoke bombs and a blaring soundtrack of Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” the claw of an excavator slammed into a facade of the printing plant Tuesday morning to put an exclamation mark on Bally’s behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing.
Last month, Bally’s announced it had secured financing to cover an $800 million funding gap for construction. It also released a new site plan that places the hotel tower on the south end of the 30-acre gaming campus, a redesign made necessary when planners realized the original placement along the Chicago River could damage a city water main.
Those accomplishments should bolster confidence in the project, according to Kim, as should his own investment portfolio.
His hedge fund, Standard General, reached a $4.6 billion merger deal last month to buy out Bally’s shareholders in an agreement that would keep the company publicly traded, pending federal review.
“It’s just an indicator of how optimistic we are,” Kim said.
Mayor Brandon Johnson didn’t attend the demolition kickoff, but seems to have changed his tune from earlier this year, when he seemed skeptical, telling the Sun-Times in June that Bally’s viability to complete the project was “still to be determined, to be perfectly frank with you.”
In a statement provided by Bally’s on Tuesday, Johnson called the future casino “one of the largest economic investments in Chicago” that “will have an incredible impact on our city as a job creator, hospitality destination and revenue generator.”
“Like all Chicagoans, I will be watching eagerly as Bally’s rises along the river,” Johnson was quoted as saying.
Bally’s temporary casino at the historic Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave., has fallen far short of city budget projections since opening last September.
Johnson has banked on $35 million this year in city casino tax revenue, earmarked for underfunded police and firefighter pensions. The city’s cut so far this year adds only about $8.2 million, according to Illinois Gaming Board records.
Kim told the editorial board they’re “still ramping” at the Medinah operation, and that projections of $200 million per year for the city from the permanent casino remain feasible.
“This is the temporary. Are we light in the temporary, and does that mean that, ipso facto, you’re gonna be light on the permanent? That’s not the way I would read that. That’s not even close,” Kim said. “We haven’t seen anything in this market that says we’re not as excited as we can be.”
Kim said he’s “had nothing but a great relationship” with Johnson, and has “no doubt that we have nothing but support, that everyone's behind us succeeding.”
“There are no winners in the city or state if we do not succeed,” said Kim, who suggested he has an open mind when it comes to the possibility of allowing video gaming at bars and restaurants in the city, a revenue option Johnson’s administration is exploring.
“I think under the right circumstances, it’s possible,” Kim said, noting a city video gaming ordinance would reopen negotiations on Bally’s host community agreement.
As for another controversial segment of the casino plan, Kim said Bally’s could install slot machines at Midway Airport within a year, as allowed under the state gambling expansion law passed in 2019 that authorized a Chicago casino.
“That one would be nice, as a way of introducing Chicago to our brand,” Kim said. “It’s not like it’s gonna make a ton of money, but it’s a nice little project.”