Bally’s Postpones Bally’s Chicago Medinah Temple Temporary Casino Opening Till September

Yesterday, August 3rd, Bally’s Corporation officials revealed that amid many delays to the official opening of its Bally’s Chicago Medinah Temple Temporary Casino, the casino is now experiencing another delay, with its opening now scheduled for September 2023, meaning several weeks later than originally proposed by the said officials.

Additionally, the revelation came during company’s second quarter earnings call. In this regard, Bally’s CFO, Marcus Glover said on Thursday’s call: “Obviously we’re a little delayed from what we communicated to you last time on opening.”

Preliminary approval received back in June:

Bally’s secured preliminary validation from the Illinois Gaming Board, aka the required final license, and instantly started putting over 50 gaming tables and 750 slot machines at the casino’s Medinah Temple location. Relatedly, during that time, the aforementioned officials said: “We expect to have the roughly 1,000 gaming positions in place by the end of the month.”

However, they also hoped to have everything sorted out in Medinah till August, pending a triumphant board-approved trial of gaming operations. In this regard, Soo Kim, Bally’s President, spoke to the Tribune on August 4th: “It’s done, all the machines are installed. We’re in testing and regulatory mode. We’re just waiting to get through the final process so we can share it with the city of Chicago.” Additionally, a spokesman for the Illinois regulator didn’t provide a comment also on Thursday.

History of the proposed Bally’s Chicago Medinah Temple Temporary Casino:

Over the past year, Bally’s was the winner of a tough contest to construct a permanent casino worth $1.74 billion on the 30-acre lot of the Chicago Tribune printing plant located in River West. The company purchased the location from Nexstar Media for $200 million and intended to officially open a permanent casino till 2026.

Then, during May, the company reported that it would “pay Tribune Publishing $150 million to terminate its lease early and vacate on or before July 5, 2024, to enable the construction of the casino complex.” In addition, Medinah Temple has been decided to be a temporary casino location for a period of 3 years, and the company has been refurbishing the site since January of this year.

Also during May, the firm added a help wanted sign, aiming to hire over 700 employees to fill positions at the said casino.

Changing the opening date has a negative impact on revenue:

The official opening date for Bally’s Chicago Medinah Temple Temporary Casino has already been delayed quite a bit this year, having been gradually moved back from June to July, then August and now September. Every month that goes by without an opening brings no revenue to Bally’s and the city.

The casino is expected to collect $805.6 million in year-over-year adjusted gross revenue, which is the money retained after winnings are paid out, through 2028, according to a signature initiative for the administration of previous Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who chose Bally’s Chicago over four competing offers. In addition, according to the figures above, it would produce almost $246 million in year-over-year income by year 6, if the casino opens by 2026 as planned.

However, as for this year, it was projected to collect over $100 million in adjusted gross receipts, and the city was expected to get almost $70 million, involving a one-time $40 million upfront payment from the owner.

But all is not lost yet; because while it’s not yet open, it’s expected to bring in between $15 and $25 million in 2023, in compliance with Thursday’s investor presentation. On that note, Glover said: “You could probably for the rest of this year estimate out somewhere between $3.5 and $5 million a month in terms of impact once we open in Chicago.” Also, by 2024, the owner expects to collect between $50 and $60 million in revenue for the company.