Bally’s Corp held an eight-minute investor call on Monday to reassert that its permanent Chicago casino remains on track for an early 2027 opening, even as the company reworks parts of the project amid a dispute with the city over newly legalized video gaming terminals.
Executive Chairman Soo Kim told investors that roughly 1,000 skilled tradespeople remain on site and pushed back on what he called inaccurate reports that construction had stopped, according to iGaming Business. “This reset is not a pause or a stoppage,” Kim said, adding that Bally’s is aligning its sequencing with requirements under its host community agreement with the city, as NEXT.io reported.
The dispute traces back to Chicago’s legalization of VGTs, which took effect in January over Mayor Brandon Johnson’s objection, after the city council overruled him. Bally’s notified the city in August that it viewed the resulting change in project sequencing as a violation of the economic assumptions underpinning its host community agreement, according to NEXT.io.
Chicago City Council testimony on VGT cannibalization
Bally’s president and interim chief financial officer, George Papanier, gave more detail last week before the Chicago City Council’s License Committee, telling officials the company will still deliver the event center, 100 hotel rooms and required food and beverage components in early 2027, per the Chicago Sun-Times as cited by iGaming Business. The company is reevaluating about 12% of the project’s other planned amenities, out of an eventual 500-room hotel plan, because of potential cannibalization from VGTs.
Papanier said widespread VGT proliferation could cut 30% to 50% off the casino’s top-line revenue and called it “irresponsible” to keep building without more clarity on the VGT landscape. The Illinois Gaming Board has approved 65 VGT license applications in the city so far this year, according to the Sun-Times.
Bally’s shares rose 7% Monday to $9.84 following the call, after falling 30% over the prior month amid uncertainty over Chicago and a warning in the company’s second-quarter earnings about its ability to continue as a going concern.
Bronx financing led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners
Separately, Bally’s confirmed $560 million in new financing to advance its downstate New York casino project at Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners, according to NEXT.io. The package includes $400 million in closing-date term loan commitments and $160 million in delayed draw term loan commitments, and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 pending regulatory approval.
Bally’s secured its downstate license approval in December 2025 and acquired the nearly 20-acre Ferry Point Park site in March 2026, under terms requiring construction to begin within 18 months. The planned complex calls for 3,500 slot machines, 210 table games, 40 poker tables, 500 hotel rooms, a 2,000-seat event center, a nightclub, a spa and retail and food and beverage space.
Kim said the new financing lets Bally’s advance pre-construction planning while it works toward completing the remainder of the project’s capital raise.
