First the barbecue, then the baccarat.
Chicago’s first casino could launch soon after Labor Day, if all goes well during practice gaming sessions set to take place shortly after the holiday at Bally’s temporary Medinah Temple gambling hall.
Regulators will inspect the River North operation Sept. 5 and oversee practice gaming sessions Sept. 6-7, Illinois Gaming Board officials told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Based on the timelines of other casinos that have opened in Illinois since Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a massive gambling expansion into law in 2019, the casino doors at 600 N. Wabash Ave. could open to the public by the weekend of Sept. 9.
But that’s only if Bally’s passes muster with Marcus Fruchter, the Illinois Gaming Board’s administrator, who has the final say on issuing a temporary operating permit.
“Based on the results of the operations assessment/audit and practice gaming sessions, Administrator Fruchter will determine whether and to what extent to allow gaming to operate at Medinah Temple,” gaming board spokeswoman Beth Kaufman said.
A Bally’s spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Executives of the publicly traded, Rhode Island-based corporation said during a quarterly earnings call earlier this month they’re shooting for a September launch, a modest delay from the mid-August target set by chairman Soo Kim when Bally’s earned preliminary state approval in June.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who selected Bally’s from four bidders for the project and forced it through the Chicago City Council in the spring of 2022, initially wanted the temporary casino to start churning out cash by the first half of this year. The city’s cut of casino tax revenue is earmarked for its cash-strapped police and firefighter pension funds.
Now, mid-September appears to be the safe bet for opening the Chicago casino, the crown jewel of the 2019 gaming expansion that also is supposed to help fund Pritzker’s $45 billion capital infrastructure improvement program.
Three other casinos introduced as a result of the expansion all opened within a few days of successful practice gaming sessions — most recently around Memorial Day, when the new Golden Nugget in downstate Danville opened three days after acing its tests.
Bally’s will be relying on the temporary casino at Medinah Temple for up to three years while the company builds their permanent casino at the River West site of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center printing plant. Construction on the $1.7 billion project is slated to begin once the Tribune leaves the Freedom Center next summer.
The renovated, 111-year-old Medinah Temple — long the headquarters of the Shriners fraternal organization, more recently host to a Bloomingdale’s Home Store — has been outfitted with about 750 slot machines and 50 table games.
Bally’s executives said they expect the company to turn a monthly profit at Medinah of $3.5 million to $5 million through the end of the year and up to $60 million with a full year of gambling in 2024.
City officials are banking ultimately on as much as $55 million in annual tax revenue from Medinah and almost $200 million a year from the permanent casino that’s expected to open in 2026. The 3,400-slot permanent gaming facility is projected to bring in more than $800 million a year by 2028.
Bally’s hopes to hire 700 workers for the opening at Medinah, which was bought by prolific River North developer Albert Friedman in 2019.
The historic landmark became the surprise pick last year as the temporary casino site for Bally’s, which initially floated a site adjacent to the permanent structure in River West before Lightfoot chose the company over two other finalists to run the Chicago casino.
Friedman was also the landlord for Lightfoot’s campaign offices.
