Bally’s Chicago Casino Now Targeting a Spring 2027 Opening
Bally’s Chicago released a construction update this week confirming the $1.7 billion permanent casino at 560 W. Grand Ave. in River West remains on track for a spring 2027 opening.
The project, built on the 30-acre site of the former Chicago Tribune Freedom Center printing plant along the Chicago River, will include a 500-room hotel, 3,400 slot machines, 173 table games, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 food and beverage venues, and a two-acre public riverfront park. More than 1,000 tradespeople have worked on the site to date.
Spring 2027 was not the original target. The project was initially expected to open in 2025, then September 2026, and now spring 2027. Getting from a blank site on the Chicago River to that revised opening date has involved an $800 million financing gap, two separate work stoppages, a debris incident that sent construction material into the Chicago River, a mob-tied subcontractor investigation, and a temporary casino that has underperformed revenue projections throughout its run.
For the many Chicagoans who have watched the project from the beginning, here is how it got here.
The Long Path to Bally’s Chicago Casino
The road to a Chicago casino was itself a decade-long fight before Bally’s ever broke ground. Illinois law long prohibited casinos in Chicago, restricting gaming licenses to riverboats and specified locations outside the city. The 2019 gambling expansion act finally authorized a Chicago casino license, but attached strings: a portion of revenue would fund police and fire pension obligations, which are among the most severely underfunded in any major American city.
The Chicago casino license process formally launched in 2020 under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who oversaw a competitive bidding process that drew proposals from multiple operators including Hard Rock, Rush Street Interactive, and Bally’s. Lightfoot selected Bally’s in May 2022 after a process that drew criticism from aldermen who accused her of orchestrating a predetermined outcome. Bally’s paid $40 million upfront to help plug a pre-election budget gap. The City Council ratified the choice. Ironically, the now-former Mayor Lightfoot is currently representing Bally’s in a fight against video game terminals in Chicago.
While the permanent site was developed, Bally’s opened a temporary casino at the Medinah Temple in River North in September 2023, allowing gaming operations to begin and giving the company a foothold in the Chicago market. Revenue at the temporary facility persistently underperformed internal projections. Bally’s CEO Robeson Reeves acknowledged this in the company’s annual report, writing that “the temporary Chicago casino returns remain below our expectations.” The Illinois Gaming Board extended the temporary license through September 2026, giving the project a bridge until the permanent facility opens.
The underperformance at Medinah matters beyond the revenue line. Chicago’s pension funding obligations under the casino host agreement are tied to gaming revenue. A casino that generates less than projected means less money flowing to police and fire pensions than the city anticipated when it awarded the license. That pressure has added political urgency to the permanent casino’s timeline without giving the city any mechanism to accelerate construction.
Multiple Work Stoppages Has Added Complications
The permanent site construction has endured two separate work stoppages, each costing weeks of progress on a timeline that had no weeks to spare.
The first came in late 2024, when debris from the demolition of the Freedom Center facility spilled into the Chicago River during construction preparation. Bally’s did not face city fines for the incident, but lost several weeks of work while the situation was addressed.
The second stoppage arrived in May 2025 and was more serious. The Illinois Gaming Board ordered work to halt after the Chicago Sun-Times reported that a waste-hauling subcontractor named D&P Construction was working at the site without prior IGB approval. The company had historical ties to organized crime through the DiFronzo family, reputed leaders of the Chicago Outfit. The same company’s involvement had blocked the Emerald Casino from opening in Rosemont more than two decades earlier, a history the IGB had specifically identified in a 2001 disciplinary complaint. Construction resumed after approximately two weeks, following IGB approval of a revised subcontractor vetting process.
Each stoppage compressed an already tight timeline. Each required Bally’s to absorb the delay while the September 2026 statutory deadline, established in the original gaming act, grew closer. By January 2026, Bally’s told city officials the September target was no longer achievable and formally moved the opening to spring 2027. That disclosure required state action to modify the original deadline, which the legislature accommodated.
Construction Milestone Marked by Historic Topping-Out Ceremony
On April 30, 2026, a signed structural beam was hoisted to the highest point of the casino building in a ceremony attended by Mayor Brandon Johnson, Alderman Walter Burnett Jr., Bally’s Executive Chairman Soo Kim, union leaders, and members of the Chicago Community Builders Collective. The topping-out traditionally marks the completion of a building’s structural frame, the point at which vertical construction is finished and interior fit-out work can begin in earnest.
Soo Kim acknowledged at the ceremony that the project had endured what he called “random delays,” referencing the debris incident and the work stoppage, before crediting the union trades for their work in getting the frame complete. Johnson framed the project in terms of its pension funding implications: “When completed, the over 1,000 union workers who are building the casino project will not only change our skyline, but they are building it. The casino, the hotel, entertainment venue and restaurants are anticipated to generate more than $100 million in new revenue every year.”
Spring 2027 Opening of the Casino, With Full Resort to Come
The spring 2027 opening will be the permanent casino only, not the full resort. The 500-room hotel tower, the 3,000-seat theater, and the full food and beverage program will come online as construction progresses through 2027 and into 2028. The gaming floor and core casino operations are the priority for the initial opening, consistent with how most major casino openings sequence their phases.
The project also sits within a broader Bally’s context worth noting. The company is simultaneously pursuing a casino license in the Bronx, managing debt obligations rated deep into junk territory by Fitch, and navigating the Las Vegas stadium campus situation we have covered separately. Chicago is the most important single project on Bally’s balance sheet. Its spring 2027 opening, if it holds, will be the most significant operational milestone the company has reached in years.
The Lightfoot-negotiated deal, the mob subcontractor headlines, the debris in the river, the pension shortfalls at the temporary location, and the missed September deadline are all part of the same story. So is the fact that the structural frame is now complete, the tradespeople are moving inside, and Chicago’s first casino is closer to opening day than it has ever been.
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