Bally’s Chicago Financing Held Up as SEC Shelves Minority Investment Program

^{Demolition of the Chicago Tribune Freedom Center, seen here in December, on the site of the future $1.7 billion Bally’s Chicago casino complex. (Image: Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune / Alamy Live)}

A program designed to sell $250 million worth of shares in Bally’s Chicago has been temporarily postponed after Bally’s said that the Securities and Exchange Commission never approved the initial public offering.

The program was designed to both help finance the $1.7 billion casino complex in Chicago’s River West neighborhood, and to fulfill the host community agreement for the project, which mandated that 25 percent of the project equity be owned by minority individuals or minority owned and controlled businesses.

Kim Says Bally’s Will Send IPO Back to SEC

Initially, the IPO was set to close on Feb. 7. With no word from the SEC by Thursday, Feb. 27, Bally’s chairman Soo Kim said that the IPO was dead for the time being, and that all initial deposits received for the offering would be refunded.

“It was disappointing for the SEC to not respond,” Kim told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re going to come back. We’re going to update our financials and resubmit, but we don’t know why they didn’t respond the first time, and they may not respond the second time.”

The program offered investments in Bally’s Chicago that ranged from $250 to $25,000 per share. The program was aimed at investors from groups “found by the City of Chicago to be socially disadvantaged,” which included women and well as Black and Hispanic individuals. 

The SEC’s lack of response could be connected to the Trump administration’s hardline approach against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs across the country. President Donald Trump placed Mark Uyeda in the role of acting SEC chairman, and Uyeda remains in that role while waiting for Paul Atkins to receive a Senate confirmation vote.

IPO Was Subject of Discrimination Lawsuit

The current political environment may have contributed to a federal lawsuit against Bally’s filled by the American Alliance for Equal Rights earlier this year. The conservative activist group filed suit on behalf of two white men who they argue were “excluded from the table solely based on immutable characteristics.”

The lawsuit named Bally’s, the city of Chicago, and members o the Illinois Gaming Board as defendants. A federal judge denied an injunction to half the IPO, but the lawsuit continues, even as the IPO is at least temporarily off the table.

Bally’s is currently operating a temporary casino at the historic Medinah Temple in Chicago. The permanent casino, which the company hopes to have up and running by late 2026, will be built at the site of the former Chicago Tribune press building.

The casino has seen its fair share of financial setbacks even before the questions over the minority IPO. In 2024, Bally’s said it was facing an $800 funding gap between what the company was required to spend to complete the casino and what it had raised from investors. That issue was apparently resolved in July, when the company secured an additional $940 million, which it said would be enough to complete construction.