The leaders of Chicago’s first casino say they’re on schedule to move out of their temporary Medinah Temple digs within three years, but legislation advancing in Springfield could end up keeping Bally’s bright lights on in River North well beyond 2026.
The Illinois Senate passed a bill Oct. 24 to amend a state gambling law that currently limits new casinos to 24 months of operation at a temporary site while they build a permanent facility.
For now, operators can ask the Illinois Gaming Board for a 12-month extension, as Bally’s did last month when regulators approved their request to keep Medinah open through Sept. 9, 2026.
But under the bill sponsored by state Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, casino operators would be able to ask to extend a temporary stay by any “period of time deemed necessary or appropriate by the Board.” The Illinois House is expected to take up the bill this week during the General Assembly’s veto session.
Cunningham said the amendment was written at the behest of officials in Waukegan, where Full House Resorts Inc. has had to hold off on building its permanent casino while a lawsuit from a spurned bidder for the coveted project plays out against the north suburb.
Bally’s lobbyists weren’t involved in crafting the legislation, and their massive downtown development “was not prominent in the thinking” of the bill, according to the South Side senator, who shepherds most gaming legislation in his chamber’s Democratic super majority.
Still, following Bally’s lengthy negotiations to acquire the Chicago Tribune printing facility — and their ambitious construction timeline to transform it into a $1.34 billion casino — Cunningham said the flexible language in his bill “could be helpful to the casino project at some point.”
State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, pictured at a 2021 news conference.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
“If there is a need for a safety hatch involving the Chicago project, this would provide that, too,” Cunningham said.
A Bally’s spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on the bill.
The measure, which also includes other gaming law tweaks, passed the Senate 50-7 without debate.
Cunningham said he’s not expecting any roadblocks in the state House of Representatives, where state Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero, who chairs the Illinois Democratic Party, is the bill’s chief sponsor.
Under Bally’s deal with Tribune Publishing, it won’t be able to break ground on the permanent site until July 2024. That gives the company just over two years to complete their 505,000-square-foot mega-casino and hotel tower at 777 W. Chicago Ave.
Regulators questioned Bally’s Chicago general manager Mark Wong about the tight deadline during a meeting last month.
“We’re all very confident that we’ll meet the timeline,” Wong told the gaming board. “However, it is a huge project. It’ll probably take every bit of the two, two-and-a-half years that will be required to build.”
Bally’s executives reiterated their confidence during a quarterly earnings call last week, when president George Papanier told investors “we expect our permanent casino to be completed for opening” in September 2026. Chairman Soo Kim called the Chicago project “our highest priority.”
Bally’s is under lease at the Medinah Temple through December 2026, a deal that guarantees $16.5 million in rent payments to prolific River North developer Albert Friedman — and that can be extended through early 2029.
Medinah Temple landlord Albert Friedman chats with Mayor Brandon Johnson during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bally’s Casino Chicago at Medinah Temple Oct. 3.
Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
If exercised, the extensions would mean another $9.6 million for Friedman, whose firm landed the temporary casino even though Bally’s initially wanted to build their own temporary site adjacent to the Tribune plant. Kim has said they changed plans at the request of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office.
Friedman was the landlord for Lightfoot’s campaign office. He’s also leased space for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaigns.
Medinah has hosted more than 157,000 visitors since it opened to gamblers at 600 N. Wabash Ave. in early September. The temporary operation churned out about $6.7 million in its first few weeks, generating about $695,000 in tax revenue for the Chicago police and firefighter pension funds.
It’ll take more than that to meet city budget projections that had banked on $12.8 million from the casino this year. Johnson’s budget team is aiming for upward of $34 million next year from Medinah, and eventually $200 million annually from the permanent site.
As for the Waukegan casino, Full House Resorts chief development officer Alex Stolyar said the company “strongly supports” the bill to extend temporary casino timelines while their own project is on hold.
“Without a legislative change, there’d be a gap between when we stop the temporary operation and open the permanent one,” he said. “That’d be harmful to us, to Lake County, to Waukegan and the whole state.”
