- Bally’s ordered work stopped Aug. 8 on the hotel, event center and restaurants at its $1.7 billion Chicago casino.
- The gaming floor, with 173 table games and about 3,300 slots, is still scheduled to open in early 2027.
- Roughly 1,500 union tradespeople work the site, and Bally’s has not said how many the stoppage idles.
- Bally’s says Chicago’s move to legalize video gambling terminals breaches the 2022 host community agreement’s no-expansion promise.
CHICAGO – Bally’s Chicago told the venture building its $1.7 billion River West casino on Aug. 8 to stop work on the 34-story hotel and the rest of the non-gaming complex, while holding the gaming floor to its early 2027 opening.
What Stopped And What Did Not
Bally’s notified the Chicago Community Builders Collective, the venture running construction at the River West site, on Aug. 8 that it was “resetting the pace of construction.” Subcontractors were told Sunday morning, and the stoppage takes effect Monday.
Work stops on the hotel tower, the event center and some of the planned restaurants. The casino is not on that list. Bally’s says an “uncontrolled proliferation” of the machines would put the city in breach of the no-expansion promise written into the host community agreement, and that the terminals create “uncertainty” for the project. The company said it does not take the decision lightly “because of the potential impact on many of the 1,500 union tradespeople who have been working hard to build Bally’s Chicago.”
Nothing changes at the tables. The temporary Bally’s casino inside Medinah Temple in River North keeps dealing live table games 24 hours a day for players 21 and older. No Illinois-regulated operator offers legal online craps.
The Floor Craps Players Are Waiting On
Bally’s own site plan for the permanent property lists about 3,300 slots, 173 table games and VIP gaming areas, alongside the 500-room hotel tower, a 3,000-seat theater, six restaurants and a two-acre public park. Everything on that list except the gaming just went on hold.
That 173 is the number worth watching. A craps game takes one of the largest footprints on any floor and needs a four-person crew to run it, which makes it the first table a cost-conscious operator trims and the last one it adds back. A paused hotel does not touch that count. A renegotiated project would.
Table policy is the other open question, because a craps table’s odds terms are house policy rather than game rules. The free odds bet is the only wager in a casino paid at true odds, which means the house keeps nothing on it. How large a multiple of the line bet a table allows behind the point is a decision each property makes on its own, and none of it is published until a floor opens.
Until then, legal craps in Illinois means the state’s licensed riverboat and land-based casinos plus the temporary Medinah Temple room.
The Video Gambling Fight Behind It
Chicago’s $16.6 billion 2026 budget lifted the city’s long-standing ban on video gambling terminals. Bally’s argues that the host community agreement it signed in 2022 carried a commitment not to expand casino-style gambling inside the city limits, and that legalizing the terminals breaks it.
What Happens Next
Bally’s has set no date to resume the paused work and says it wants “more productive discussions with the Mayor’s Office and City Council.” The opening of the permanent casino remains set for early 2027, the company said.