When Chicago selected Bally’s to build the city’s first casino four years ago, it rolled the dice on a proposal to build a $1.7 billion entertainment complex on the 30-acre former site of the Tribune’s Freedom Center printing plant in River West.
Despite construction delays, revenue shortfalls at Bally’s temporary casino and questions over the Rhode Island-based company’s financial wherewithal, that vision has finally taken shape.
Bally’s Chicago hosted a topping-off ceremony Thursday marking the placement of the final beam, a milestone signifying the completion of the structural framework. That means the 34-story hotel and adjacent casino have risen to their full height along the Chicago River, changing the city’s architectural and economic landscape.
“We had some fits and starts,” Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim told a crowd that included politicos past and present, titans of industry and a thousand union construction workers enjoying a celebratory free lunch. “We’re going to be done early next year. We’re excited to finish it all up.”
The outdoor ceremony featured a number of speakers on a red dais, including Kim and Mayor Brandon Johnson, with his predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who drove the casino project, in a front-row seat. Mounds of dirt, construction equipment and cranes were still plentiful, but more than three decades after Illinois legalized casino gambling, Chicago is ready to change the game with what it hopes to be a regional tourist attraction.
The permanent casino includes an exhibition hall, a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions, making it the state’s largest casino. Bally’s has been operating a smaller temporary casino at Medinah Temple in the River North neighborhood since 2023.
In May 2022, Bally’s bested proposals by Rivers and Hard Rock after a competitive one-year vetting process. At the time, Bally’s planned to open its temporary casino by the second quarter of 2023 and the permanent casino in the first quarter of 2026.
Both fell behind schedule.
The target opening for the permanent casino was pushed back several times, most recently in January, when Bally’s requested a 12-month legislative extension to operate at the temporary casino until September 2027.
On Thursday, Kim said the permanent casino should be ready to open its doors by the first quarter of 2027 — ahead of the legislatively revised schedule.
Getting the permanent casino open is a priority for both Bally’s and the city to meet ambitious shared revenue goals. Last year, Bally’s temporary casino ranked fifth in the state and was roughly flat with nearly $125 million in adjusted gross receipts and 1.3 million visitors, according to Gaming Board data.
Bally’s Chicago generated $15.9 million in local taxes last year, far below projections for the much larger permanent casino.
“The casino, the hotel, entertainment venue and restaurants are anticipated to generate more than $100 million in new revenue every year,” an ebullient Johnson said at the ceremony. “The revenue will support our police and fire pensions and our ongoing efforts to build a more equitable, safe and affordable Chicago where every community has the opportunity to thrive.”
Construction of the permanent casino has been delayed by everything from a Freedom Center demolition halt by the city in December 2024 after a debris spill in the Chicago River to an Illinois Gaming Board-imposed work stoppage in May 2025 over the use of an unauthorized waste hauler with alleged ties to organized crime.
In 2024, Bally’s had to relocate the 34-story hotel tower, which was moved to the south end of the casino after it was determined that driving caissons into the ground might damage municipal water management infrastructure pipes along the river.
The gambling landscape has already changed dramatically since Bally’s began demolishing the Freedom Center in August 2024, clearing the site to begin construction
New facilities at Wind Creek Chicago Southland, Hard Rock Casino Rockford and a new land-based Hollywood Casino Joliet led a boom in casino revenue last year, with the state’s 17 casinos generating more than $1.9 billion in adjusted gross receipts in 2025, a 15% year-over-year gain, according to Gaming Board data.
Bally’s Chicago improved during the first quarter of 2026, generating $31.6 million total adjusted gross receipts at the temporary casino, up 8.7% year-over-year, according to the latest Gaming Board data. But total casino revenue was up 13% across the state at nearly $516 million in adjusted gross receipts.
Rivers Casino Des Plaines remained the state’s top casino with $128.6 million in revenue through March, followed by Wind Creek at $60.2 million and Hard Rock Casino Rockford at $38.5 million, according to Gaming Board data. Bally’s dropped to sixth behind Hollywood Casino Joliet, which generated nearly $34.8 million in revenue, up nearly 60% year-over-year after launching its new $185 million casino in August.
Kim said the permanent Bally’s Chicago casino is expected to move to the top of the revenue charts in Illinois.
“I think this is a game changer,” Kim said after the ceremony. “The city wanted a facility that would actually compete, not necessarily with the regional properties that surround Chicago, but they wanted something that would compete for the 50 million-plus tourists that come to Chicago. There’s nothing like this in the Chicagoland area.”
He did sound a cautionary note however about plans to launch video gaming in Chicago, which some analysts believe may cut into revenue at Bally’s Chicago.
It also may potentially jeopardize an annual $4 million fee that Bally’s pays to Chicago as part of the host agreement with the city.
“I think video gaming would be very detrimental, not the least of which we have a host community agreement that prevents that,” Kim said. “Bally’s keeps our promises and we expect the city to keep their promises to us.”
There is also more competition on the horizon with Hollywood Casino Aurora’s new $360 million land-based facility slated to open in June. Meanwhile in Waukegan, the permanent $500 million American Place Casino, delayed by a lawsuit, the governmental approval process and financing issues, is expected to break ground this year, according to casino owner Full House Resorts.
But as a crane slowly hoisted the final red beam covered in signatures and topped with an American flag skyward to the tune of “We Built This City” by Starship, depositing it on top of the casino garage, optimism was in the air at the future home of Bally’s Chicago.
Among attendees, no one was happier than former Mayor Lightfoot, seeing her vision and signature achievement coming to fruition.
“This is so important to the financial future of our city, which is why I personally fought so hard to make this happen,” Lightfoot said. “It’s not like birthing a child, but it’s pretty damn close. This is a lasting legacy for the city.”
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
