Bally’s Corporation is facing mounting challenges across several of its major US developments, with regulatory hurdles in Chicago, financing concerns in Las Vegas and looming construction timelines for its massive New York resort.
Bally’s temporary casino license in Chicago has been extended, while construction continues on the company’s permanent $1.8 billion property.
According to the city budget that has been approved, it is estimated that licensing VGTs should generate approximately $6.8 million, and nearly 300 venues have applied to host those machines.
Bally’s strongly opposes this move as they believe that implementing city-wide VGTs will result in an almost $75 million loss of annual revenue and 1000 job losses from both its temporary and permanent casinos.
Christopher Jewett, Bally’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, said:
We believe one lounge can generate approximately $5 million in actual gaming and admission taxes, which go directly to the city. This alone can replace the revenue in question.
Bally’s states that if they had known that the city would permit additional forms of gambling, they would never have purchased their current site or made the commitments that they did based on their host community agreement.
In Las Vegas, Bally’s is under pressure again with their $1.2 billion Mixed-Use Development project that is located next to the future Major League Baseball Stadium for the Oakland Athletics.
Company executives have stated that they do not expect the hotel and casino portions of the project to be open when the MLB stadium opens in Spring 2028.
Despite the challenges in Chicago and Las Vegas, Bally’s continues to push ahead with its $4 billion integrated resort project in the Bronx after securing one of New York’s highly sought-after downstate casino licences.
