{"id":316456,"date":"2024-04-04T16:25:43","date_gmt":"2024-04-04T21:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=316456"},"modified":"2024-04-05T09:00:01","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T14:00:01","slug":"chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is supporting Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY) even as the regional casino operator contends with headwinds that could jeopardize its $1.1 billion integrated resort project in the third-largest US city.<\/p>\n

\"Brandon
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D). He’s supportive of Bally’s efforts to complete a casino hotel in the city. (Image: Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In a statement to Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, <\/em>Johnson\u2019s office said it expects Bally\u2019s to follow through on its commitment to build a permanent casino hotel at the former Tribune printing plant in the River West section of the city. The gaming company currently runs a temporary casino at Medinah Temple in River North.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last month, Bally\u2019s executives told the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) they\u2019re attempting to close a funding shortfall of $800 million<\/a> to complete the Chicago project. That endeavor could become more difficult following the spate of recent credit downgrades<\/a> endured by Bally\u2019s.<\/p>\n

“Bally\u2019s has indicated that it is on track to begin construction this year and open the permanent casino in 2026,\u201d according to the statement from the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Lori Lightfoot (D) was the mayor of Chicago when Bally\u2019s was selected as the winning bidder for the city\u2019s lone casino license.<\/p>\n

Takeover Offer Could Cloud Bally\u2019s Chicago Plans<\/h2>\n

Some Chicagoans, including policymakers, are banking on the permanent Bally\u2019s casino to be a jobs creator and revenue generator for the city, but are concerned that a recent acquisition offer by Standard General, if accepted, could jeopardize the project.<\/p>\n

The hedge fund, which is controlled by Bally\u2019s director Soo Kim, has pledged to complete<\/a> the Chicago casino hotel if it acquires Bally\u2019s, but some investors and local residents are concerned about the fate of the project should the regional casino go private.<\/p>\n

\n

In a letter to Bally\u2019s board on Tuesday<\/a>, California-based money manager K&F Growth Capital, which owns 1% of the gaming company\u2019s shares, said the gaming company has bitten off more than it can chew with \u201cmoon shot bets\u201d on large casino projects, including Chicago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

K&F encouraged Bally\u2019s to seek a partner in Chicago to limit its exposure while also telling the board it should sell the operating rights to Tropicana Las Vegas to raise cash and abandon attempts to procure a New York City casino license. Johnson\u2019s office said it\u2019s not getting involved in the K&F\/Standard General rift.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe city doesn\u2019t weigh in on disagreements between investors in any circumstance but looks forward to this project advancing and will continue to monitor its progress,\u201d according to the statement provided to Crain\u2019s<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Chicago Has Options<\/h2>\n

Bally\u2019s hasn\u2019t said that it\u2019s searching for a partner in Chicago, but such a move could prove practical in terms of minimizing financial exposure at a time when investors are concerned about the operator\u2019s credit profile.<\/p>\n

\n

For now, the prevailing speculation among analysts is that Bally\u2019s will reject Standard General\u2019s takeover offer and proceed with completing the Chicago plan — the gaming company\u2019s most expensive to date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Should that not happen, Chicago has options because Hard Rock International and homegrown Rush Street also pursued the license ultimately won by Bally\u2019s. Still, the more effective and likely more desirable option for the city is for Bally\u2019s to make good on its promises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) is supporting Bally\u2019s (NYSE: BALY) even as the regional casino operator contends with headwinds that could jeopardize its $1.1 billion integrated resort project in the third-largest US city. In a statement to Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, Johnson\u2019s office said it expects Bally\u2019s to follow through on its commitment to build a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":316457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,32093,86430,61,86438],"tags":[81897,81903,81966,86455,86457],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.\" \/>\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\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-04-04T21:25:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-05T14:00:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"840\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"560\" \/>\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\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/\",\"name\":\"Chicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-04T21:25:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-05T14:00:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg\",\"width\":840,\"height\":560,\"caption\":\"Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D). He's restrained in views about Bally's casino in the city being completed. (Image: Chicago Sun-Times)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\",\"name\":\"Todd Shriber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Todd Shriber\"},\"description\":\"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies","description":"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies","og_description":"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-04-04T21:25:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-05T14:00:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":840,"height":560,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Todd Shriber","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@etfgodfather","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Todd Shriber","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/","name":"Chicago Mayor Backs Bally's Amid Controversies","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-04T21:25:43+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-05T14:00:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85"},"description":"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/BJ3.jpg","width":840,"height":560,"caption":"Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D). He's restrained in views about Bally's casino in the city being completed. (Image: Chicago Sun-Times)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/chicago-mayor-backs-ballys-amid-controversies\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Chicago Mayor Johnson Supports Bally\u2019s Amid Brewing Controversies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85","name":"Todd Shriber","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-11-96x96.png","caption":"Todd Shriber"},"description":"Todd Shriber is a senior news reporter covering gaming financials, casino business, stocks, and mergers and acquisitions for Casino.org. Todd got his start in financial markets as a reporter with Bloomberg News. Later, he became a trader at a Southern California-based long\/short hedge fund, where he specialized in the trading sector and international ETFs leading up to and during the financial crisis. He joined Casino.org in 2019. Currently, Todd analyzes, researches, and writes on ETFs for various web-based publications and financial services firms. Shriber has been featured and quoted in Barron's, CNBC.com, and The Wall Street Journal. His work can also be found on Benzinga, ETF Daily News, ETF Trends, MarketWatch, Fox Business, and Nasdaq.com. He currently resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golf and taking his black lab to the dog park. He's also an avid sports fan and likes to wager on college football and the NBA. You can also find him at the three-card poker and roulette table, even though he knows better. Contact Todd at todd.shriber@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/todd-shriber","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/toddshriber\/","https:\/\/x.com\/etfgodfather"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/todd-shriber\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316456"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316510,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316456\/revisions\/316510"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}