Casinos and Gambling

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White Sox

Bettors knew White Sox would be bad, but they’re worse than expected

Bet on it: Don’t expect Pedro Grifol’s team, which is on pace to challenge the 2003 Tigers for the most losses in a season, to be favored much this year.

By Rob Miech

Harry Milas, a magician who is performing “The Unfair Advantage,” sits at the table, surrounded by chairs, where he does his tricks for the audience at Steppenwolf Theatre in Lincoln Park, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. | Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Entertainment and Culture

Sleight-of-hand magician Harry Milas will show you how to cheat at cards, but don't try this at a casino

Milas is performing thorugh May 5 at Steppenwolf Theatre’s Merle Ruskin Garage Space.

By Stefano Esposito

Sports Saturday

Sportsbooks expecting boon from increased soccer action this summer

With the pandemic bumping Euro 2020 to 2021 and the funkiness of Qatar 2022 shifting the World Cup to December, Vegas shops will welcome the sport’s return to normalcy.

By Rob Miech

Mayor Brandon Johnson shakes hands with Soo Kim, chairman of the board of directors at Bally’s Corporation, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday at Bally’s Casino Chicago at Medinah Temple in River North.

Casinos and Gambling

Bally's takeover bid 'jeopardizes' Chicago casino project, investors argue

As Bally’s chairman Soo Kim tries to take the company private, a pair of influential investors say his bid should be rejected — and that a more experienced company should be brought in to build the city’s long-sought casino.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Outside of the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino.

Casinos and Gambling

Tropicana Las Vegas casino's final day has arrived as Bally's-operated site to become MLB stadium

After welcoming guests for 67 years, the Las Vegas Strip’s third-oldest casino will shut its doors for good Tuesday.

By Rio Yamat | AP

Reporters watch a video screen displaying the Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani (right) and interpreter Will Ireton.

MLB

Japanese baseball expert wonders what Shohei Ohtani left out in statement on gambling scandal

Ohtani’s 650-word speech hardly qualified as a news conference because those usually entail back-and-forth questions and answers with media figures. Author Bob Whiting has an interesting perspective on the Japanese star.

By Rob Miech

The BetRivers Sportsbook in Des Plaines, pictured in March of 2020. Illinoisans bet more than $1 billion on sports in October.

Casinos and Gambling

Pritzker eyes bigger piece of Illinois sports betting action after 4 booming years

A hike from 15% to 35% of sportsbook revenue is a slam dunk to generate an extra $200 million for the cash-strapped state, according to the Illinois governor. But major gambling corporations say it will block growth in a market that has ballooned into one of the nation’s biggest.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Editorials

As Bally's troubles mount, City Hall has to make sure casino is a winning bet

Chicago has so much riding on this casino’s success. Mayor Johnson says he’s not worried, but Bally’s $800 million financing hurdle is just the latest glitch in the project’s bumpy road.

By CST Editorial Board

Casinos and Gambling

Bally's chairman tries to take company private as it searches for $800M in Chicago casino financing

A takeover bid by Bally’s chairman Soo Kim comes as the company races to line up $800 million in financing it needs to break ground on its permanent casino this summer.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Casinos and Gambling

New casino coming to south suburbs confident it will hit jackpot despite a crowded market

The new Wind Creek Chicago Southland is opening just miles from a casino in Gary, and casino revenue is down in Illinois.

By Michael Puente | WBEZ

Blackhawks

Savvy bettors likely made right move by going under on Connor Bedard's season point total

During the preseason, the 74.5 point total had been whittled by five points, and it was further shaved by savvy bettors who today must be licking their chops.

By Rob Miech

Video poker machines at a flower shop in Oak Lawn in 2013.

City Hall

Chicago's search for new revenue targets video gaming, wealth taxes, heliport, downtown digital ads

The ideas are expected to be part of a report issued within 30 days by a City Council panel overseeing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s search for new revenue.

By Fran Spielman

Casinos and Gambling

Baseball handicapper offers some early tips on season

“These books think the White Sox will fail, and I don’t disagree with them,” says one handicapper.

By Rob Miech

Casinos and Gambling

Illinois State’s Johnny Kinziger contributes to lucrative payout with big game

Kinziger, who had averaged 6.3 points, tallied 31 to power the 18.5-point-underdog Redbirds in their 80-67 upset triumph against Indiana State. He also fueled the game finishing over 143.5.

By Rob Miech

An artist’s rendering of Bally’s Chicago Casino at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street, with a redesigned hotel atop it.

Casinos and Gambling

City approves new hotel design for Bally’s Chicago casino site — but location of additional 400-room tower still up in the air

Bally’s and the city still haven’t determined where a massive 400-room hotel tower could go in the second phase of construction, after its initial site was ruled out due to the risk of damaging city water pipes.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Bally’s planned casino along the Chicago River, with hotel at far right.

Editorials

Take a hard look at changes in Bally’s casino hotel tower plans

Moving the hotel isn’t just a tweak of the original plan, it’s a major redo. Send the casino development plans back through the approval process, so Bally’s can reassure the public there are no more surprises.

By CST Editorial Board

Bally’s Chicago casino is slated for the current site of the Chicago Tribune printing plant at 777 W. Chicago Ave.

Chicago’s Next Voices

City can’t ignore new casino’s impact on people struggling with gambling, Chicago’s Next Voices guest columnist writes

The permanent Bally’s casino promises an escape, but Chicagoans should look to the 1915 Eastland disaster as a cautionary tale of a promised respite from the dreary and mundane.

By Derek Helling

The Chicago Tribune printing plant, 777 W. Chicago Ave. in River West, in May 2022. Bally’s is poised to begin building a casino there this summer.

Casinos and Gambling

Water pipes send Bally’s casino plan for hotel tower along Chicago Avenue down the drain

Leaders at the Rhode Island-based corporation are still working with the city to figure out where to eventually put a massive tower on the site that’s currently home to the Chicago Tribune printing plant at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street.

By Mitchell Armentrout

Mayor Brandon Johnson shakes hands with Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corporation, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Bally’s Casino at Medinah Temple on Oct. 3, 2023.

Casinos and Gambling

Bally’s Chicago casino closes out year $9.7M short of Lightfoot’s budget bet

The temporary casino at the historic Medinah Temple made less than a quarter of the money former Mayor Lori Lightfoot had estimated it would churn out for police and firefighter pension funds.

By Mitchell Armentrout

BetRivers Sportsbook, the first brick-and-mortar sportsbook approved by the Illinois Gaming Board, opens to the public at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Monday morning, March 9, 2020.

Casinos and Gambling

Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states

Missouri is one of a dozen states where sports wagering remains illegal more than five years after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for states to adopt it.

By David A. Lieb | Associated Press