Casino committee hearing leaves city revenue questions unanswered
(The Center Square) – Chicago aldermen pressed casino representativesearlier this week over construction delays, worker layoffs, and threatened pension revenues surrounding the $1.7 billion casino project – the only such casino in the city.
Bally’s recently paused non-gambling related construction, fearing competition if Chicago approves local video gaming terminal, VGT, licenses.
Alderman Brendan Reilly criticized the developer’s financial standing and weak returns from its temporary casino.
“Many of us thought that the projections both for the temporary casino and for the permanent casino were grossly inflated,” Reilly said. “We were reassured by the previous administration that ‘no, no, no, the temporary casino is going to do gangbusters and we’re going to meet all these expectations.’ I didn’t believe it.”
Reilly also challenged Chief Legal Officer Kim Barker over claims that “bumps in the road” caused the project delays, rather than funding issues.
“There aren’t a whole lot of construction delays when you’re properly financed and you have a good plan. We’ve never done a casino in Chicago before. When you won this bid, you made certain commitments to the city of Chicago that you promised you’d deliver on,” Reilley said. “You’ve already gotten one extension from the Gaming Board because you couldn’t get your permanent casino together in time. And we all know that you were struggling to cobble together money.”
Bally’s defended its financials, calling 136 layoffs and the partial pause a “re-set” rather than a breach of contract with the city.
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office didn’t send representatives to testify. License Committee Chair Debra Silverstein expressed concern over a lack of answers from his office.
“It’s very disappointing, very embarrassing, very insulting, any adjective you could think of that we don’t have representation from the mayor’s office here today to answer our questions and that every single question that we asked the city attorneys, we were not able to be answered,” Silverstein said at the hearing’s close.
Meanwhile, a coalition of establishment owners, public officials and supporters pressed City Hall to move forward with approving video gaming licenses.
“Video gaming is a proven revenue generator that municipalities outside of Chicago have benefited from for years,” said Sam Toia, president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association.
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