Casino Doomed?
It used to be that a casino was a license to print money....but not in Chicago:
Bally's Chicago is pausing construction on several parts of its permanent casino as a political fight intensifies over the future of video gaming terminals in the city.
The company says the growing push for hundreds of new terminals could drain revenue from the casino; it's a concern that has divided members of the City Council.
At issue is a decision made during last year's budget negotiations to authorize several hundred video gaming terminals, or VGTs, as a way to help close the city's budget gap. Bally's is now pushing back, hoping to get the city to reconsider, prompting frustration from some aldermen who argue the casino operator is overstating the threat.
A casino twenty years ago might have solved a bunch of problems.
A casino ten years ago might have alleviated problems that have since grown to huge issues.
A casino tomorrow would probably end up costing taxpayers untold more millions....and still might.
The incompetency is staggering.
Labels: money questions
posted by SCC at 12:04 AM
69 Comments:
Casinos are not economically beneficial for the state. Predominantly all they do is take money from addicted gamblers. They make no products or services that benefit people. It’s supposed to be a form of entertainment but primarily derives its profits from addicts. Also, the casino in River North looks like shit based on the clientele that hang out by the front doors. Politicians sound like uneducated trash when they tout the benefits of these businesses.
Only chicago politicians could fuck up building operating and making $ with a billion $ casino. Wtf
Way to go dumb fucks
Crooks fighting for the last dollar....
Casino gambling has been overdone. Chicago’s approach to allowing a major casino to open was ass-backwards. The Lakeside Center at McCormack place, with the Arie Crown Theatre and parking could have been up and running for 2 years now. That under used facility would have been a goldmine. Building an attached hotel to a new casino like Ballys was unnecessary folly.
Not surprised. The city officials are to involved and will doom the whole thing.
Only a Democrat could fuck up a cash cow like a casino.
The problem is the mob action wildings. Because the leaders of Chicago feel that those children look like theirs, Chicago will collapse and there will be reduced pensions!
These thieving jagoffs always want to have absolute control over the casino operations and the counting room..Ain't going to happen..
They’re continuing to work on the casino itself and it will be open in 2027. But they’ve paused construction on the hotel, restaurant and music venue.
Chicago is doomed by incompetent leadership.
All Democrat fool's!
This clown show should’ve been completed, just in time for BJ to divert the money to more south and west projects.
Years ago, Jack Mabley convinced me of the uncounted costs of state-sponsored gambling.
Just another gang of grifters with their hands in the public till.
And in Illinois /Chicago, many more hands, many times worse.
My neighbor runs a bunch of poker machines in the city. What he explained to me was that Ballys wants all the revenue from all of the video gaming machines currently running in the city?
And because the city agreed to a contract with Ballys that was so poorly written. It time to pay the piper. Just like the Skyway and parking meters….
The city tied themselves to another great money maker?
it's in the wrong damned location!
It should have been the original McCormick Place lakeside Center. Not exactly the original, this one replaced the burned down one, but it's barely used now, has that semi secret bus lane to get there from The loop, has the Metra Electric station right there.
So I wonder how much cash under the table Lightfoot got for picking the Trib's printing plant site, which is hell to get to?
Note that she is now one of Bally's shysters suing the city over this. She should be DQ'd by the judge as she has an inherent conflict of interest in this, plus this is undoubtedly Part 2 of her bribe from Bally's when she gets far more than any of the other shysters in this case get paid.
This entire mess is a typical Richie Daley abortion, since he was the one who delayed & delayed a city casino!
Bally’s first mistake was to do business with the City of Chicago. The city will claim bankruptcy in 5 to 7 years.
Same old story in Chicago and Illinois,someone is not getting their end. When that happens the problem goes away. Start checking the visitors log where Madigan is at.How does a casino go under,political incompetency
I laughed when I watched the movie, Idiocracy. Now I cry because we're living it.
Shutter down
Hardy har har.
Does this resemble something else too, like say, the Chicago Bears and their stadium issues? Illinois just isn't a state you can do business in anymore...
And how much tax revenue is the Obama Cooling Center generating for this city? We know that they don’t have to pay property tax because Rahm engineered a $1 land deal for 99 years. Is anything from that ‘library’ going to the city or do the Obamas and their network get to pocket everything?
Nothing in this town can ever be done right. This place is just a snake pit full of Pit Vipers. Brandon-baba and the 50 thieves.
The City should have done this thirty years ago.
You never hear much about the temporary downtown casino. With sports betting on your phone and video poker machines just outside the city I think this new place will flounder after the initial opening excitement.
The Skyway and parking meters were brought to you by the Daley and Associates crime family.
THEY
ARE
CRIMINALS
In my opinion, of course!
But we have the same Ethics e-learning year in and year out. Vomit emoji.
That's what you get when you have DEI "those people" running anuthing
That’s completely untrue. A simple google search will help you with your facts. Illinois Casinos made 176.5 million in 2025. Rivers in Des Plaines made 45.5 million. None of these numbers include the online betting sites with the State and Cities tax.
I bet the casino will charge for parking all others it free. Shithole
This was talked about since the 1990s and it could never get done because everybody needed a taste and now you see the same thing with the Bears. These politicians continue to overplay their hands whether it is with developments that would benefit the city or just sticking around so long the Feds finally catch up with them. Imagine you have all the money that 40 years of grift and corruption can pay but you have to stick around because your ego demands more. Knock knock...who's there? Federal indictment
Casinos are never the economic panacea people think they are. Sure, every little bit helps but not long term. Jobs? Ever see the electronic croupiers? No union needed. They need only to look at NJ to see how much it really helps now. It's not the 1970's anymore. Bally's is just coitusing with Cone & Porky because they have them both on a hook.
Only in freaking America could a mutant like Lori Lightfoot win. I swear to God that little troll is a trainwreck. There should be a new campaign: "The American Dream: So Easy This Person Can Do It" and then a bunch of pics of here in her ill-fitting clothes and the Halloween costume from Covid.
Worked on the original overhaul of Navy Pier in 95. Bovis -Lend Lease was the GC. All we talked about was how the coming casino would be layed out
I think you are right on the money with that. The casino should have been at McCormick Place, Meigs Field or Navy Pier. The old Post Office building would have been even better. I don't get how there are poker machines in every gas station, bar, resturant and private club. There are 1000's of machines out there and they ALL pay out. Just like all the places selling cannabis that don't have a license. VICE will get you for unstamped cigarettes but poker machines and pounds of cannabis are okay ?
the city wants the gambling machines in Chicago be able to accept the link card,, you know,, so they won't look racist
We have had illegal gambling dens for decades. These video gaming machines will make a business money at first. But gamblers are cheap people and expect free things from you if they are gambling in your liquor store, bar, etc. if you don’t give them free bees then they will go to a spot that does. Then they will start expecting you to give them loans. Dealing with gamblers is a headache.
No,they will not.If that happens then they have to open all there books to show all the bogus accounts.
The suburbs have gambling machines in businesses. They’re making money without all the building.
The city and state lost the Bears and now casino…… color me shocked Batman…..
If the City would have used McCormick Place twenty years ago, as a casino, with the Annex development. Trade Shows, Conventions, & Tourists would have provided a Gold Mine for the city......... Patrol cars would be Escalades !!!
There are now 17 licensed casinos in Illinois, that were licensed for up to 1200 gaming positions, (table seat or slot machine). In 2020 legislature added additional casinos and allowed casinos to expand up to 2000 positions with Chicago being allowed 3000 positions, after paying a gaming privilege tax/fee. There are close to 50,000 video gaming terminals located in taverns, truck stops and non casino locations in Illinois. The gambling market is saturated with casino revenues dropping due to the large number of non casino gaming terminals. Betting on a Chicago casino to solve Chicago and Illinois fiscal problems is a losing bet.
Bally didn't know how many they would have to pay to play.
Casinos in Illinois are over saturated for the economy. Rich Daley had the chance initially to get a riverboat for the city and turned it down. Then, when he tried again he started a statewide feud where every city wanted a casino and it was just too late for Chicago. Now? Who in the hell wants to come into this town for a casino when it is much safer in the suburbs ? Blame Daley the midget for starting the downslide of this town in so many ways.
When I go to local casinos, I head for Indiana and Wisconsin casinos because of the Poker rooms, Poker tournaments and the wife plays her Buffalo slot machine.
For some reason, there are NO decent poker tournaments in Illinois, as I have played in the Heartland Poker tour [Ameristar], World Series of Poker [Horsehshoe], and now Mid States Poker Tour {Ameriistar] and Potawamie [Milwaukee[ and have done pretty well in winnings and we had lots of fun in retirement $$$!
Illinois has no big poker tournaments and Illinois sucks overall in casino atmosphere!
VGTs at our new library will be a money maker for Obama
Uh....the casino revenue was supposed to be used to shore up our pension fund.....not bridge the gap in the city budget.
And don't say.....the pension IS part of the budget. These assholes need everything spelled out in black and white for them.
bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Only Chicago Democrats could fuck up an easy, peasy money maker like a Casino....
Love it!
They can’t keep adding gambling facilities. There is only so much gambling money out there Happened with racetracks 1, 2, 3 or 5 the bettors only have so much money
Gamblers have more than enough ipportunies to gamble in Illinois and chicago
You are making sense. The Lakeside Center at McCormack Place would have been perfect. Common sense, if used, would have made the city millions of dollars.
Illinois and Chicago has ruined legal weed, and now the casino revenue generator. Ballys would be smart to pull out entirely. Say...Indiana?
You mean only a pinhead lunatic light Lightfoot could fuck it up!
The fastest growing sectors in Illinois failed socialist democrat economic model is cannabis retail outlets and gambling. So if the casino fails, just convert the casino desert in a cannabis superstore outlet mall. Lots of government revenue collected from previously outlawed vices gambling and cannabis distribution.
Unfortunately, Illinois doesn't allow municipal corporations, which what the city is to file bankruptcy!
Illegal under federal law!
Gambling profits are good until the degenerate gamblers run out of money or disability checks. Gamblers never admit to losses but they always break even or made money. Many families are destroyed by gambling addictions where the degenerate gambler prioritizes the allure of large payout versus risks sacrificing the overall well being and priorities of the family often resulting in personal bankruptcies.
Everyone gambles with their life just by stepping outside
Gamblers are degenerates who use their kids clothing allowance to gamble it all away. Never heard of a gambler's kid having a college tuition fund either.
Drive down Cicero Ave from the Cal Sag to 159th and count the number of places with video slots. LOL 60% of the bars and casual dining places have them. Great for the kids.
Brawndo, it's what video slots crave.
Team up with the new Bears stadium in Indiana. A double kick to the nuts for shitcago and the debtors State of Illinothing.
Chicago is run by dummies. suburbs have gaming machines in restaurants, coffee shops, gas stations . Suburbs get 1/3 of the $$. If Chicago had this ,it would be in the money, pensions fully funded, better schools. Cut 2/3 of alder creatures,cut the 3rd man on garbage truck, eliminate driver only position for forestry, electricity departments. eliminate captain rank on CFD . push old timers out of CFD , go to a 12 hour shift.
That is true. Gambling does not create beneficial goods or services. All gambling does is take money from one party (such as an addicted gambler) and gives it to another party (casino owners or the government via taxes on gambling profits). Casinos being profitable has nothing to do with benefiting society. It’s a wash - money is taken from gamblers and given to another party - nothing new is made like a car, TV, house or even a haircut or shave. Only communists think gambling makes something new. That’s why they like government, they think it makes goods/services too when it just takes money for someone else.
Mine did. Gamblers are risk takers if sober. The drunk gamblers are ad news.
Illinois law will be changed during the constitutional convention in 2028. Bankruptcy will come to Chicago and the University of Chicago at the same time. Make America Great Again!
Gamblers are the biggest losers ever. Of all the addictions men can allow themselves to fall victim to, gambling is the only one with a surprisingly high suicide rate.
The entire thing was a grift from the get go, and the new drama is all theater to back out of the deal.
Remember when life was better?? Bring back Richard Daley. Even if he’s almost as senile as J. B. (Jo Biden), he could run Chicago better.
"Remember when life was better?? Bring back Richard Daley."
The good one is dead. Little Dick is out only for himself and his cronies. He was the beginning of the end for Chicago.
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