Warning: Undefined array key "post_type_share_twitter_account" in /var/www/vhosts/casinonewsblogger.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/cryptocurrency/vslmd/share/share.php on line 24
Bally’s Corp has proposed installing slot machine lounges at Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway airports as an alternative to expanding video gambling terminals (VGTs) across the city, escalating a debate that has divided city officials over gambling policy and municipal revenue.
The proposal was presented during a City Council Workforce Development Committee hearing convened to discuss repealing an ordinance that legalized VGTs in Chicago as part of the city’s 2026 budget plan.
Christopher Jewett, Bally’s Senior Vice President for Corporate Development, said each of O’Hare’s four passenger terminals and Midway’s single terminal could accommodate one slot machine lounge.
“We believe one lounge can generate approximately $5 million in actual gaming and admission taxes, which go directly to the city,” Jewett told the committee, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. “This alone can replace the revenue in question.”
Chicago’s $16.6 billion budget for 2026 assumes the city will generate $6.8 million from licensing newly legalized VGTs. The estimate is based on roughly 80% of the city’s 3,300 eligible establishments applying for licenses and on an expected six-to-eight-month approval process by the Illinois Gaming Board.
However, Alderman Anthony Beale questioned whether Bally’s airport proposal could fill the projected revenue gap, arguing that airport gaming proceeds must remain in the enterprise fund that supports airport operations rather than flow into the city’s general budget.
Beale also criticized Bally’s for not pursuing airport gaming opportunities previously authorized by the Illinois General Assembly.
The debate comes as Bally’s continues to oppose the expansion of video gambling in Chicago, warning that widespread deployment of VGTs could reduce casino revenue by $74 million annually and eliminate as many as 1,050 jobs at its temporary and planned permanent casino operations.
The company has also argued that legalizing VGTs could force renegotiation of key elements of its host agreement with the city, eliminate an annual $4 million payment from Bally’s and reduce casino-generated funding earmarked for police and fire pension funds.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has voiced opposition to video gambling expansion, maintaining that it could violate the city’s host agreement with Bally’s, which is operating a temporary casino while constructing a permanent casino-entertainment complex in Chicago’s River West neighborhood.
Jewett said Bally’s entered into the host agreement on the assumption that Chicago would maintain its long-standing prohibition on video gambling terminals.
“Had we known that, within just a few years, this body would reverse course and allow an alternative form of gambling that breaches the agreement, we would never agree to the numerous commitments, all of which we’ve held up,” he said.
The hearing ended abruptly following a heated exchange between Beale and Ivan Capifali, Commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection, over the city’s handling of sweepstakes gaming machines.
Capifali declined to discuss the machines during the hearing, saying, “I am not going into gambling policy debates with you or anybody in this forum.”
Beale responded by calling for Capifali’s resignation, accusing the commissioner of failing to adequately address the issue.
The dispute underscored growing tensions within the City Council over gambling policy, with supporters and opponents of VGT legalization increasingly at odds over how Chicago should generate revenue while protecting its casino investment.
Alderman Debra Silverstein, Chair of the License Committee, also renewed criticism of the process, arguing that any effort to repeal the VGT ordinance should be considered by her committee, which originally approved the measure.