Bally's issues going concern warning over liquidity issues

Days after pausing construction on nearly all non-gaming amenities at its $1.7 billion casino complex going up in River West, Bally’s Corp. issued a going concern warning related to liquidity issues.

The warning, part of Bally’s second-quarter earnings filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, states that the Rhode Island-based company is pursuing “a number of financing alternatives intended to enhance its liquidity” by early next year to stay in compliance with lenders for its revolving credit facility.

Bally’s is looking to raise cash through asset sales, an equity offering or debt financing, according to the SEC filing.

“While the company is actively engaged in discussions on several financing alternatives, the conditions and events raise substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” Bally’s stated in the filing.

Auditors are required to issue a going concern warning when they believe a company might default on its debt within 12 months. The warning is sometimes a prelude to a bankruptcy filing, and may be a growing concern for investors — and perhaps the city.

Bally’s said the financing issues are connected to future developments and are unrelated to the Chicago construction slowdown, which was implemented as part of its escalating standoff with the city over video gambling terminals.

“There has been no change to the status of Bally’s Chicago’s construction based off the company’s most recent 10-Q filing,” the company said in a statement Sunday. “Bally’s Chicago remains well situated to continue delivering on its obligations.”

Bally’s Chicago issued a reset notice Aug. 8 to the Chicago Community Builders Collective, a general contracting partnership overseeing the casino complex construction, putting everything from the 34-story hotel and events center to a number of planned restaurants on hold, citing the advent of VGTs as a violation of its agreement with the city.

A group of 28 aldermen sent a demand letter to the casino company Wednesday calling for a public hearing and the resumption of the full development project. In addition to challenging the legality of the construction slowdown, the aldermen also questioned the financial capacity of Bally’s to complete the $1.7 billion project as planned.

Those questions were likely amplified by Bally’s subsequent going concern warning. But Bally’s said Sunday that the Chicago development is fully financed, and the construction slowdown is about VGTs and not the liquidity issues raised in the SEC filing.

“As we have made clear, the legalization of VGTs has caused us to reset the construction priorities (and reconsider the timing to deliver some peripheral amenities),” the company said in its statement. “That decision is entirely separate from, and unrelated to, the accounting disclosure contained in the company’s 10-Q.”

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A mayoral spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Sunday on the Bally’s going concern warning.

Bally’s liquidity issues will nonetheless likely be a topic of conversation at the hearing requested by the aldermen over the construction slowdown.

In May 2022, the city selected Bally’s to build a $1.7 billion entertainment complex, including a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions, at the site of the former Tribune printing plant in River West. Bally’s has been operating a smaller temporary casino at Medinah Temple in River North since 2023.

The casino remains on target to open in early 2027, but Bally’s has paused construction on its hotel, events center and other amenities. The slowdown has idled about 200 of the 1,500 workers at the Bally’s Chicago site, the company said.

Beyond slowing construction, sources familiar with the matter say Bally’s is planning to withhold an annual $4 million payment to the city due in September, pending resolution of the VGT dispute.

Bally’s contends the legalization of video gambling terminals in Chicago as part of this year’s budget violates its 2022 host agreement with the city to build the permanent casino and amenities. It is also a point of contention between Mayor Brandon Johnson and the aldermen who included the terminals in the budget over his objection.

Illinois launched VGTs in 2012 and there are now nearly 50,000 machines at more than 8,700 locations across the state — the most in the country, according to the Illinois Gaming Board.

Chicago approved video gambling last fall, and aldermen included revenue from the terminals in the 2026 budget, hoping to plug a $6.8 million funding gap.

There have been 311 applications for Chicago VGT locations with the Illinois Gaming Board, including 42 that have been licensed by the state, an agency spokesperson said last week. But none have begun operating in Chicago, pending final approval from the city.

In their demand letter, the aldermen said the VGTs must be “actually operating” before Bally’s can claim a violation of the host agreement and seek “good-faith renegotiation” of its terms.

A date for the public hearing to discuss the Bally’s Chicago construction slowdown has not been announced.

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