Bally's Chicago got the green light to open its temporary casino at Medinah Temple this weekend
Signage for the Bally’s Chicago casino, in River North, is up on the former Medinah Temple, July 18, 2023.
It has already been a long journey for both Bally’s and the city, with high stakes riding on the casino’s success.last year, besting four other proposals to build a $1.74 billion casino at the site of Tribune Publishing’s Freedom Center printing plant in River West. It plans to open the permanent casino in 2026.
Historic touches remain, including an atrium looking up to the ornate rotunda lined with inset stained glass windows. Modern casino amenities include six new brightly lit washrooms.sign in May and fielded more than 15,000 applications to fill 900 full and part-time positions to staff the temporary casino, the company said. As part of its proposal, Bally’s agreed to create “well-paying union jobs” and hire 50% of the projected 3,000 employees for its permanent facility from within Chicago.
Bally’s proposal for an entertainment complex at the 30-acre site of the Chicago Tribune printing plant along the Chicago River includes an exhibition hall, a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions — by far the largest casino in the state. In 2019, the state shifted to allow land-based casinos as part of its sweeping gambling expansion bill, the same measure that enabled sports betting, racinos and six new casinos.
The first of the new casinos, the Hard Rock Rockford, opened in a temporary facility in 2021. It was fully licensed in January 2022 and is building a permanent casino on the site of the former Clock Tower Resort.
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