Approximately 7,000 unpermitted sweepstakes machines operate in all kinds of businesses across the city — including in bars, restaurants, gas stations, laundromats and convenience stores — but are concentrated on the South and West sides.

If Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies on the Chicago City Council have their way, those bars and restaurants will never get to plug in video poker and slot machines.

The vote came after officials with Bally’s Corp. issued the most direct warning to the City Council that its move to green-light video gaming would kneecap the city’s permanent casino, scheduled to open in River West later this year.

The ordinances rejected by the committee would have banned video slots and poker machines in the 26th Ward, the 27th Ward, the 28th Ward, the 33rd Ward, the 35th Ward and the 49th Ward.

The number of people visiting the temporary casino at River North’s Medinah Temple failed to grow from 2024 to 2025, leading to a 1.3% drop in tax revenues,

Despite the study's findings, members of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Revenue, facing a likely deficit of nearly $1.2 billion in the city’s 2026 spending plan, were not ready to fold and walk away from the table.

A year-round immersive horror experience from NBCUniversal will open in Chicago across from the new Bally’s Casino. Universal Horror Unleashed: Chicago will be the company’s first branded experience in the Midwest.

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 2022 that ended a 30-year effort to bring casino gambling to Chicago.

The permanent casino will be four times as big as the temporary casino now open at the Medinah Temple at Ohio Street and Wabash Avenue.

If the Bally’s hotel and casino on the Chicago River aren’t built with birds in mind, the question isn’t whether birds will die in collisions but how many. “It could rival the carnage at McCormick Place,” one advocate said.

The temporary Bally’s casino in River North’s Medinah Temple brought in just over $3 million in tax revenue last year. That’s almost $10 million short of what former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration projected.

The extended hours come after more than three months since the temporary casino’s grand opening. The hours at the casino were originally from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m.

After three decades and several mayors pressuring Springfield, Chicago’s first casino officially opened its doors on Saturday. Hopes are high for a big economic boost. 

Chicagoans and tourists feeling lucky can play 800 slot games and 56 table games in the century-old Shriner’s temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., with its distinctive domed ceilings and stained-glass windows.

Chicagoans and tourists feeling lucky can play 800 slot games and 56 table games in the century-old Shriner’s temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., with its distinctive domed ceilings and stained-glass windows.

It is not clear exactly when Bally’s will be able to open a temporary casino in the century-old Shriner’s temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., with its distinctive domed ceilings and stained-glass windows. A Chicago landmark since 2001, the temple was most recently home to a Bloomingdale’s furniture store.