RIVER NORTH — Bally’s is ramping up marketing of its temporary River North casino despite “pretty light” profits, with the company planning to roll out more customer perks, casino executives revealed in a quarterly earnings call last week.
Bally’s temporary casino opened in September at Medinah Temple, 600 N. Wabash Ave. It has nearly 800 slot machines and 56 gaming tables, plus two restaurants and a coffee shop. The casino initially operated 8 a.m.-4 a.m. daily but has been a 24-hour operation since Dec. 27.
Tax revenue from Medinah Temple has consistently fallen short of the city’s projections. At the end of 2023, the casino brought in $3.1 million out of the projected $12.8 million predicted by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Medinah Temple saw revenue growth over its first five months in business but is still not on track to meet projections set in the city’s 2024 budget. The casino is the second-most visited in the state this year and ranks fourth overall in gross revenue, according to data from the Illinois Gaming Board.
The budget anticipates $35 million in local tax revenue from Bally’s, averaging out to $3 million a month. As of the end of March, Medinah Temple has generated about $3 million in tax revenue this year for Chicago. A revenue report for April is expected to be released this week, according to a company spokesperson.
More than 80,000 customers have joined Bally’s loyalty program in Chicago, casino executives said in the quarterly earnings call Wednesday. That’s up from 60,000 people at the end of 2023 — but that hasn’t necessarily meant high profitability.
Despite the increase in loyalty reward sign-ups, profits have been light as the company continues to try to break into the market.
“We feel that if we continue to drive top-line … profitability is pretty light, but that’s somewhat intentional as we continue to focus on marketing [and] introducing … customers to the property and introducing them quite candidly to the Bally’s brand and operation,” said Marcus Glover, chief financial officer for Bally’s.
Medinah Temple is “significantly” drawing customers from within a 5-mile radius, with people primarily driven by the casino’s table game offerings, executives said.
“That’s not to say we don’t draw significantly outside of that, but we have a concentration within the 5 miles, and we’re going to continue to try and penetrate certain areas,” said Bally’s President George Papanier.
Mark Wong, general manager for the Medinah Temple casino, told Block Club the company heavily used radio advertising in February and March and continues to use billboards along I-90 and I-84.
Other methods include advertising on social media and partnering with hotel concierge services across the city, Wong said.
Bally’s also plans to roll out increased perks for customers such as a VIP lounge on the third floor and reward points that can be redeemed at restaurants in River North.
The casino is in the process of finalizing some of the restaurant partnerships and hopes to add more in the future, Wong said.
“That’s going to be able to give our customers the ability to frequent those neighboring businesses, utilizing some of our internal currency,” Wong said.
Despite an $800 million funding gap, Bally’s executives assured stakeholders on their quarterly call that construction of the permanent casino at the Tribune Freedom site is still slated to begin in July.
Executives said the permanent site is still expected to open on schedule by September 2026.
The site plan has faced many challenges. The most recent was the need to relocate the casino’s massive 400-room hotel tower after officials discovered construction could damage existing city infrastructure.
By law, Bally’s has three years from the opening of Medinah Temple to open the permanent facility at 777 W. Chicago Ave. Bally’s is also tied to a community host agreement that says the company must build 500 hotel rooms and spend $1.7 billion on the development.
The $800 million funding gap was revealed during a meeting in March with the Nevada Gaming Control Board when Glover said the company was having “conversations with a potential financing partner” for the project, according to casino.org.
Since then, the company has formed a special committee to evaluate a bid from New York hedge fund Standard General, which owns 26 percent of Bally’s shares, according to the Sun-Times. Soo Kim, Standard General’s founding partner, is Bally’s chairman.
This will be Kim’s second attempt at buying out the company. Casino executives did not mention the bid on last week’s call, but the annual Bally’s shareholder’s meeting is set for May 16.
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