Bally's Chicago is a casino and entertainment venue temporarily located in the Medinah Temple Building, and a planned

integrated resort A casino hotel is an establishment consisting of a casino with temporary lodging provided in an on-premises hotel. Customers receive the benefits of both gambling facilities and lodging. Since the casino and hotel are located on the same premis ...

that will be built on the North Branch of the

Chicago River The Chicago River is a system of rivers and canals with a combined length of that runs through the city of Chicago, including its center (the Chicago Loop). The river is one of the reasons for Chicago's geographic importance: the related Chic ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. In May 2022, then Mayor

Lori Lightfoot Lori Elaine Lightfoot (born August 4, 1962) is an American politician and attorney who was the mayor of Chicago#List of mayors, 56th mayor of Chicago from 2019 until 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, she ...

approved

Bally's Corporation Bally's Corporation is an American gambling, betting, and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. In the US it operates 19 casinos across 11 states, a horse track in Colorado, a golf course in New York, and ...

's bid to construct a casino complex in the city. The complex will be in the city's River West neighborhood, near Grand Avenue,

Chicago Avenue Chicago Avenue is a major east–west street in Chicago, Illinois, that runs at 800 north from 385 east to 5968 west in the Chicago street address system from which point it enters the suburbs and goes into several different suburban addr ...

and

Halsted Street Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois. Location In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits ...

. The plan was approved by the

Chicago City Council The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the Law and government of Chicago, government of the Chicago, City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 Wards of the United States, wards to serve four-year t ...

in May 2022, and a State of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

gambling license was issued in 2023. The integrated resort began construction in 2024, and is expected to open in 2026. Demolition of the old structures on site began in August 2024.

Background

In the 2019 mayoral election, the topic of constructing a casino in the city was a main subject to then-mayoral candidates

and

Toni Preckwinkle Toni Lynn Preckwinkle (née Reed; born March 17, 1947) is an American politician and the incumbent County Board president in Cook County, Illinois, United States. She was elected to her first term as president of the Cook County Board of Commis ...

with both signaling their approval for the project. The prospect of a casino location in Chicago predated the election with

overseeing construction of gambling locations in areas outside of Chicago. Legislation expanding

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

in Illinois was passed by the state legislature at the start of June 2019 and signed by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

J. B. Pritzker Jay Robert Pritzker (born January 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving since 2019 as the 43rd governor of Illinois. A member of the wealthy Pritzker family that owns the Hyatt hotel chain, Pritzker has started several vent ...

. However this bill did not approve the construction of a casino. Shortly afterwards, Lightfoot announced that the city would commence the study of where a Chicago

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

would be located. Lightfoot's predecessors had long sought to obtain a casino for the city. In November 2019 a gaming bill proposed by Pritzker failed to be passed in the

Illinois Legislature The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in 181 ...

due to a veto session. Lightfoot cited that the bill's failed proposal would not impact the construction plans, however cited that the casino's potential revenue would greatly impact the city's budget and capital bill. She continued to push, however, for the state to authorize a casino jointly owned by the city and state and with a lesser effective tax rate than the passed legislation specified. The city's goal for the casino was to generate $200 million in annual tax revenue to fund police and firefighter pension funds.

IPO controversy

In 2025, Bally’s, along with the city of Chicago and state gambling regulators, were sued for discrimination by two Texans, Richard Fisher and Phillip Aronoff, alongside the American Alliance for Equal Rights. As part of the casino's agreement with the city, Bally's launched an IPO exclusively for women and minorities to own 25% of the casino, which the plaintiffs argue is discrimination. Bally's warned ahead of the offering that this requirement may result in a lawsuit. The lawsuit was settled in June of 2025. Another lawsuit was filed by Liberty Justice Center on behalf of Mark Glennon. Following a lack of SEC approval for the IPO, Bally's refunded prospective investors.

Bidding process

Chicago Avenue Bridge from south in 2014

In April 2021, Lightfoot announced the beginning of the bidding process for the city's "casino-resort". She stated that proposals must include plans for a 500-room hotel, meeting space, restaurants, bars and entertainment venues. In November 2021, Lightfoot announced the city's top five bids for a Chicago casino. She set a public meeting for the proposals for December 16, 2021. In March 2022, the three final bidding proposals were announced. The first was from Rush Street Gaming, which would cost US$1.62 billion and would be built between the South Loop and

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

along the

. The second was a US$1.74 billion proposal from the eventual chosen

to build the casino and resort on the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

printing plant In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. Origins of printing The history of printers in publishing in Western Europe dates back to the mid-15th century wit ...

in the River West neighborhood. The final proposal was a $1.74 billion proposal from

Hard Rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

to build the casino and resort, across from

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side, Chicago, Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears from the National ...

. On May 5, 2022, Lightfoot announced that she had selected the bid from the Bally's Corporation. The proposal needed city council approval and Illinois Gaming Board approval. Reaction to the casino selection was controversial with many residents living near the proposed site.

Casino details

Permanent casino

When the Bally's Corporation sought their bid, they proposed a $1.6 billion casino and resort, where the current ''

'' Publishing Center is located. Bally's has the option to buy the 30-acre site. Bally Corporation and Community Investment Programs are record owners of the resort, and architects,

Solomon Cordwell Buenz Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB) is an international architecture, interior design and planning firm based in Chicago with offices in San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Abu Dhabi. Founded in 1931, the firm has been one of the largest contributors t ...

, will oversee the construction with several additional firms.

Gensler Gensler is a global design and architecture firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is the largest architecture firm in the world by revenue and number of architects. In 2022, Gensler generated $1.785 billion in revenue, the most o ...

architects will design the casino resort facilities and Solomon Cordwell will design the hotel. The first phase of the process would cost $1 billion, which would include 2,700

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

s, 95 table games, a suite-only hotel, with 100 suites. There would also be an outdoor music venue with space for 1,000 people. After having a 20% return on investment from phase 1, Bally's would have a $600 million expansion. There would be a total of 4,000 gaming seats with the expansion, a new 400 room hotel, a 3000 seat indoor venue, and a 20,000 sq ft exhibition space.

Location

A casino location was proposed on the south street of

McCormick Place McCormick Place is a convention center in Chicago. It is the largest convention center in North America. It consists of four interconnected buildings and one indoor arena sited on and near the shore of Lake Michigan, about south of the Chicago ...

near

Lake Shore Drive Lake Shore Drive (officially Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable Lake Shore Drive; also known as DuSable Lake Shore Drive, the Outer Drive, the Drive, LSD or DLSD) is a semi-limited access Limited-access highway, expressway that runs alongside the sh ...

. This proposal was rejected by the

in March 2022. The

James R. Thompson Center The James R. Thompson Center (JRTC), under reconstruction as Google Center or Googleplex Chicago and originally the State of Illinois Center, is a postmodern-style building designed by architect Helmut Jahn, located at 100 W. Randolph Street in ...

was also discussed as a possible casino venue. In May 2022, the location of the casino and resort was announced and would be located in the River West neighborhood. The temporary location opened on September 9, 2023, with the permanent location opening in 2026.

Temporary casino

On May 5, 2022, it was reported that the Medinah Temple would be renovated as the casino's temporary home, which had been approved by Chicago Mayor

. The proposal was approved by the Chicago City Council in December 2022 and the Illinois Gaming Board in September 2023. The temporary casino opened on September 9, 2023. It is expected to remain at Medinah Temple until the casino's permanent location in the River West neighborhood is completed in 2026. In its first two years of operation, the casino's revenue was far below expectations, with 2023 bringing 25% of the expected revenue and 2024 bringing in 47% of expected revenue.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://casinos.ballys.com/chicago/, Bally's Chicago Casino hotels in Illinois Casinos in Illinois Hotels in Chicago