{"id":270715,"date":"2023-04-26T18:27:42","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T23:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=270715"},"modified":"2023-04-29T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T19:06:10","slug":"temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/","title":{"rendered":"Bally\u2019s Temporary Chicago Casino Facing Time Crunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bally\u2019s plans for a temporary casino at the Medinah Temple in the River North section of Chicago is up against a shortening timeline.<\/p>\n

\"Medinah
The Medinah Temple, located in Chicago’s downtown district, would serve as the temporary site for a Bally’s casino. There are delays in opening the venue. (Image: Friedman Properties)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The gaming company hoped to open the temporary venue, which will serve as a prelude to a $1.7 billion permanent casino-hotel, by the end of the second quarter. That\u2019s June 30. But the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) meeting slated for Thursday, April 27, isn\u2019t likely to address the matter of the Medinah Temple casino<\/a>. And the IGB is not scheduled to meet in May.<\/p>\n

As Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/em> reports, save for a special meeting to address the issue, the earliest the IGB could approve the short-term gaming venue is June 15. That makes a second-quarter launch difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The matter of the nonpermanent venue and issues pertaining to the Bally\u2019s $1.7 billion integrated resort in River West — the operator\u2019s most expensive project to date — now resides with the IGB, not the city of Chicago.<\/p>\n

Chicago Needs Temporary Up and Running Soon<\/h2>\n

Like Bally\u2019s, Chicago wants the Medinah Temple casino operational as soon as possible for a simple reason: The city needs money.<\/p>\n

\n

Facing ballooning public pension obligations<\/a> — one of the primary reasons Illinois policymakers approved Chicago casino plans — the Windy City will receive a portion of the $200 million in annual revenue the short-term gaming venue is forecast to generate. As Crain\u2019s Chicago Business<\/em> reports, those proceeds are to be directed to reducing old pension debt.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Last month, Illinois Policy <\/em>noted that Chicago\u2019s pension plans for firefighters, laborers, municipal workers, police and teachers are dealing with debt of $48 billion, or more than the retirement obligations of 44 states.<\/p>\n

Property taxes in the third-largest US city more than doubled in a decade, with all those increases directed to cover pension liabilities. At the state level, Illinois\u2019 $210 billion in pension is exceeded only by California, the nation’s largest state.<\/p>\n

Bally\u2019s Windy City casino is viewed as a job and revenue generator for the third-largest US city. By some estimates, Chicago residents spend $331 million annually at Indiana casinos, and the Bally\u2019s venue could help the city retain $190 million<\/a> of that sum. That\u2019s meaningful to the city and Illinois, the country’s most financially imperiled large state.<\/p>\n

Near-Term Outlook Murky<\/h2>\n

The IGB has a history of being mum on matters it\u2019s yet to consider, and that track record pertains to the matter of the Medinah Temple gaming venue. That\u2019s the board\u2019s standard operating procedure and doesn\u2019t imply approval or rejection of Bally\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n

If the board declines to address the topic at the June meeting, the timeline gets dicey because IGB\u2019s subsequent confab is July 27. After that, the board meets just three times before the end of the year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With six public pension plans with funding ratios below 60%, Chicago may not have the luxury of more delays on the temporary casino opening.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bally\u2019s plans for a temporary casino at the Medinah Temple in the River North section of Chicago is up against a shortening timeline. The gaming company hoped to open the temporary venue, which will serve as a prelude to a $1.7 billion permanent casino-hotel, by the end of the second quarter. That\u2019s June 30. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":213204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,33810,13592],"tags":[81897,81898,81895],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTemporary Chicago Casino Up Against Tight Timeline For Opening<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bally's may not be able to open temporary Chicago casino in second quarter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Temporary Chicago Casino Up Against Tight Timeline For Opening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bally's may not be able to open temporary Chicago casino in second quarter.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-04-26T23:27:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-04-29T19:06:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/medinah-temple-600-n-wabash-01.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/\",\"name\":\"Temporary Chicago Casino Up Against Tight Timeline For Opening\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/medinah-temple-600-n-wabash-01.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-04-26T23:27:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-04-29T19:06:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Bally's may not be able to open temporary Chicago casino in second quarter.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/temporary-chicago-casino-up-against-tight-timeline-for-opening\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/medinah-temple-600-n-wabash-01.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/medinah-temple-600-n-wabash-01.jpeg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"The Medinah Temple, which will be home to Bally's temporary Chicago casino. 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