Winners And Losers In The Aftermath Of Chicago’s Bally’s Selection
Bally's can exhale as the downtown Chicago casino chess game begins its reset
Chris Altruda
Published: Jun 1, 2022 Chicago casino winners losers
The process to bring a casino to downtown Chicago, which recently completed its first key step, had a little bit of everything.
It can be argued that the process was slow, as evidenced by the city granting a near three-month extension to potential suitors during the RFP process. It can also be argued, however, that it was fast, given Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s whiplash-inducing, three-week sprint from selecting Bally’s $1.7 billion Tribune proposal as the preferred operator to full city council approval.
There were proponents and opponents, some quiet and a few quite vocal. There was the realization that a casino can conceivably do big business in Chicago, but also that the convention industry is still a key economic engine in the “City of Broad Shoulders.”
The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority waged a successful fight as two proposals that encroached on its turf failed to make the initial cut, and a third eventually lost out in the final round.
In the gaming industry, where wins and losses are the name of the game, it’s only fitting we look at the winners and losers at this first juncture, as Bally’s consolidates its early gains and refines its River West proposal.
Winner — Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Even in the best of times, running the third-largest city in the United States is an enormous challenge, and Lightfoot has had practically everything thrown at her during her first term. Getting the casino past the city council in rapid fashion, most notably the $40 million to plug into the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, is a huge boost. The casino also gives her a key plank for her reelection campaign by delivering something that previous Chicago mayors had sought for more than 30 years, addressing the city’s woefully underfunded police and fire pensions in the process.
The approval is a key step, but one of still many to go for the city and Bally’s. Lightfoot still has plenty of other issues on her plate — including the Bears and their threatened move to Arlington Heights. And in what is a growing field of competitors from both city and state government lining up to run against her, there is no guarantee Lightfoot will be around by the end of Bally’s application process to cut the ribbon.
Winner — Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim. An outsider when the process began, Kim and his team were able to land a proactive labor agreement that put Bally’s in the pole position, a spot it did not relinquish throughout the evaluation process. While its $40 million upfront payment to the city was another key differentiator, recall that Bally’s had a $50 million sweetener for its nixed McCormick proposal. That money was always there. Bally’s showed throughout the process it wanted to be in Chicago, and put its money where its mouth was on more than one occasion.
Kim could become an even bigger winner than Lightfoot if Bally’s crowdfunding method to achieve the 25% minority ownership threshold is permitted and works. Though the term “generational wealth” gets casually tossed about at times, the concept of a buy-in as low as $250 for residents offers a unique opportunity to change lives, especially in a still-challenging and post-pandemic economic environment. Something to watch going forward is how Bally’s will promote this idea to the River West community in terms of hitting its commitment goals should the method receive approval from the Illinois Gaming Board.
Winner — Alderman Walter Burnett. It is still bemusing that Burnett seemed as surprised as anyone that Lightfoot tabbed Bally’s Tribune proposal as the one to move forward. Burnett was a general supporter of the casino in the sense that he viewed it as a better alternative than raising property taxes in the city, and he looks to be taking a glass half-full approach to the impending drastic alterations to his 27th Ward.
Bally’s has pledged to make at least $75 million in infrastructure improvements to the area around the casino, and the city also has plans to begin work replacing the Chicago Avenue Bridge — a key reason the city asked Bally’s to move its temporary site out of the Tribune plant area. How Burnett is able to spin these plates and keep residents happy in River West will go a long way to determining whether Bally’s gets a warmer reception from local residents as the process continues.
Winners — DraftKings and FanDuel. Though sports betting provides a low percentage of the overall revenue a casino generates (estimated to be less than 5%), Bally’s has no sports wagering presence in Illinois. Its Quad Cities venue is not taking retail bets, and the most recent update of the IGB website shows no application for a Management Services Provider license required to launch Bally Bet.
As the casino process has proceeded, both mobile sportsbook titans have been moving full speed in constructing retail sportsbooks at Wrigley Field and the United Center, respectively, with both expected to be open no later than next April.
FanDuel and DraftKings already combine for two-thirds of the online market share in Illinois, so they are not hurting for revenue, but having retail books at iconic venues while Bally’s builds its casino — versus Rush Street building one — is a net positive.
Loser — Alderman Brendan Reilly, though in his defense, it’s a narrow loss. Someone on the city council had to step in front of the hurtling train Lightfoot guided down the track after naming Bally’s the city’s preferred operator in early May, and Reilly took on the unenviable task.
The 42nd Ward alderman tried everything to make Lightfoot hit the brakes and apply some pressure to make sure the city was getting what it should have received from Bally’s.
He was up to the task as much as was allowed, given the few meetings (three) the Select Casino Committee had before voting Bally’s proposal forward to the full city council. Reilly was also correct in the sense that each of the three marathon sessions the committee contributed to resulted in amended terms in the Host Community Agreement that benefited the city.
Don’t be surprised if Reilly is heard from again at some point, given his ire over the late switch that made Medinah Temple the temporary casino venue in his ward. That may include making sure Bally’s $4 million annual payments that are largely expected to go toward security are earmarked in a very specific fashion.
Losers — Commuters in the city in the short to medium term. When ground is broken at the Tribune plant and Medinah Temple opens in River North, an already congested traffic scene is going to border on nightmarish. River West is already a well-traveled area, and the combination of scheduled city construction work on the Chicago Avenue Bridge, demolition and construction at the Tribune publishing plant, and the infrastructure work Bally’s will need to do around the Tribune plant in 2023 and beyond will create logistical headaches.
There are many city commissions and private companies that must work in lockstep for years — plural — to make this project run as smoothly as possible, all with the common end goal of having the casino open by the first quarter of 2026. Meanwhile, start getting ready to leave extra time for where you’re going in Chicago.
‘Zero tolerance’: ACTU boss backs union scrutiny in anti-corruption overhaul
"Att. blackhawks: hap, says some stuff is illegal ;-) Surprise, it is in Australia too yet how good a job do regulators do. And, in America Trump hasn't been jailed yet, eh. Back to the failure of some Australian regulators. "could be" LOL Editors have to be so careful. "
By Angus Thompson September 25, 2022 — 10.30pm
ACTU secretary Sally McManus has opened the door to supporting scrutiny of union officials in a national anti-corruption commission after Liberals joined with influential crossbenchers in calling for an expanded scope, ahead of the introduction of the legislation on Tuesday.
A united front of independents and Greens from both houses of parliament also signed a joint statement demanding the watchdog be able to investigate third parties who seek to improperly influence government decisions, following fears Labor could side-step them by striking a deal with the Coalition.
ACTU secretary Sally McManus says anyone seeking to improperly influence the government should be subject to the corruption watchdog. Alex Ellinghausen
Union heads said the movement was already heavily regulated. However, McManus said in a statement on Sunday that “anyone seeking to corrupt government officials, whether in the private sector or civil society, ought to be subject to any Commonwealth anti-corruption commission”.
“The union movement has zero tolerance for corruption,” she said.
The legislation will be introduced into parliament after it is put to caucus on Tuesday, with a spokesperson for Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus saying the national anti-corruption commission “will have broad powers to investigate allegations of serious or systemic corruption of or by a public official”.
“The commission will be independent, and the government will not be instructing the commission on what it can and cannot investigate,” the spokesperson said.
Independent MP Helen Haines wants the proposed federal anti-corruption commission to have broad investigative powers.Credit:Simon Dallinger
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who on May 30 referred to the government’s relationship with unions as a cause for transparency, said on Friday he was involved in ongoing negotiations with the government on the makeup of the watchdog and wouldn’t be drawn into a “clause by clause debate”.
However, three Liberal MPs and senators have said the body should have the ability to investigate unions, with two citing the planned abolition of the controversial Australian Building and Construction Commission, which has doggedly pursued the construction union, as a key reason.
One of those, Adelaide MP James Stevens, said that while he awaited the introduction of the bill, “there could definitely be a sensible reason why the behaviour and activities of unions are within the remit of the ICAC, particularly given the other important watchdog for them, being the ABCC, has been completely emasculated”.
“Systemic issues in the union movement are clearly there. We’ve seen that with the HSU [Health Services Union], there’s obviously ongoing issues with the CFMEU [Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union], they are types of institutions with large memberships that shouldn’t be opaque,” Stevens said.
Victorian Liberal MP Jason Wood agreed, citing the disbanding of the ABCC, as well as the millions of dollars in donations from the CFMMEU to Labor, while NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said the watchdog should have the ability to look into transactions made by union-led super funds.
All three men agreed there should be limitations drawn around the scope of public hearings. Bragg took aim at former prime minister Scott Morrison’s branding of the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption as a “kangaroo court”, saying he didn’t think “bashing up” the ICAC in that way was appropriate.
“But we need to learn from the mistakes being made over the past 30 years of NSW ICAC. I think there have been cases where people didn’t need to be dragged through public hearings,” he said.
Crossbenchers want the agency’s powers to be broad enough so that it can capture instances of potentially corrupting conduct by third parties in relation to government policies, rather than just being able to examine third parties with government contracts.
Victorian MP and integrity campaigner Dr Helen Haines and Tasmanian independent MP Andrew Wilkie have both singled out unions as being among the eligible tranche, along with private businesses.
In a joint statement, Wilkie and Haines joined independent senator David Pocock, the Greens, teal independents, and crossbench MPs Dai Le and Bob Katter, among others, in calling for the watchdog to have jurisdiction over third parties, whistleblower protections, budgetary protection, and the ability to own-motion investigations into so-called “grey corruption”.
“We won’t delay the process for political games or point scoring, but won’t be rushed to vote in favour of a bill that doesn’t make the grade,” the statement reads.
Health Services Union national president Gerard Hayes said the union movement, including his own, had already been heavily scrutinised by the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in 2014, as well as the Registered Organisations Commission, whose powers will be absorbed by another oversight body.
“There is an ability within unions to address any concerns that are raised,” Hayes said.
In similar statements, Unions NSW secretary Mark Morey said unions were more heavily regulated than many financial institutions, while Transport Workers’ Union national secretary Michael Kaine said unions had been subjected to “repeated, aggressive use of coercive powers.”
Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union national secretary Steve Murphy said the public support for a federal watchdog “is about restoring trust in public institutions and public officials”.
“Calls to interfere with its purpose and power are being used as a distraction and delaying tactic – this undermines public confidence that politicians are serious about political integrity,” he said.
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