Politics
Bally’s Chicago Casino Rings Up Just $63.2M in New City Revenue, Far Behind Projections
(WTTW News)
Chicago’s high-stakes bet that a casino could ease its financial crunch has yet to pay off, according to a new report presented to a City Council committee Friday.
Sixteen months after opening a temporary casino at River North’s Medinah Temple, Bally’s casino has rung up just $63.2 million in new tax revenue for the city, Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski told the City Council’s Contracting and Oversight Equity Committee.
Nearly 70% of those revenues came from the $44 million in flat fees Bally’s agreed to pay in 2023 and 2024 as part of the deal approved by the City Council in December 2022 that ended a 30-year effort to bring casino gambling to Chicago.
That is much less than city officials had hoped the temporary casino, which opened in September 2023, would funnel into the city’s cash-strapped coffers.
In 2023, city tax revenue from the casino reached just 25% of what city officials had projected, according to the report. In 2024, the casino’s first full year of operations, the casino brought in 47% of what officials expected in taxes for the city, according to the report.
City officials do not expect the temporary casino to bring in significantly more tax revenue in 2025 than it did in 2024, according to Jaworski. Bally’s will pay the city $4 million on top of the city’s share of its revenues, according to city law.
“For a casino to really thrive, you need all of the other amenities that people expect,” Jaworski said, citing the lack of parking at the temporary casino.
Bally’s has made good on promises to hire Black, Latino and Asian Chicagoans to work at the casino with the casino’s workforce largely reflective of the city’s racial makeup, according to the report.
Despite the underperformance of the temporary casino, Jaworski said city officials believe Chicago’s finances will hit the jackpot with a permanent casino, which is set to open in 2026 on 30 acres in River West.
Crews working to tear down the former home of the Chicago Tribune’s printing plant and offices should finish next month, allowing construction on the casino and resort to start, Jaworski said.
However, state revenue forecasters are much less certain the permanent casino will draw those eager to pay a premium to test their luck near downtown Chicago, warning that Illinois’ gambling market is crowded and could be saturated.
City officials are counting on a permanent casino to boost the city’s economy and funnel approximately $200 million into its police and fire pension funds, significantly easing the pressure on the city’s finances while creating thousands of jobs and drawing tourists — and their fat wallets.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
