Bally’s Chicago Chinatown Bus Service Now Makes 88 Daily Stops

• Bally’s Chicago runs a free shuttle to Chinatown
• Bally’s Chicago is a temporary casino at the Medinah Temple
• The permanent resort is a $1.7 billion project at the Freedom Center

The temporary Bally’s Chicago casino inside the Medinah Temple has been running a free shuttle to the historic downtown property from the Windy City’s Chinatown neighborhood since October 2023. The casino recently expanded the service.

Despite negative publicity claiming that Bally’s is targeting the Asian community to prop up its gaming revenue, the casino has only increased the number of daily trips to Chinatown. The Bally’s shuttle is today making numerous trips to and from Chinatown, which is about three miles south of the Medinah Temple.

The provisional 34K-square-foot gaming space houses almost 800 slot machines and 56 live dealer table games.

Chicago Chinatown Focus

The Bally’s Chicago shuttle primarily caters to Chinatown. The bus makes stops at 2828 S. Wentworth and 2110 S. Wentworth before arriving at the casino.

There are two Chinatown shuttles in service, with pickups running every 30 minutes from 10 am until 2:30 am, with breaks between 3 pm-4 pm and 11:30 pm-12:30 am. In total, there are 88 daily stops between the two buses and three stops.

A third Bally’s Chicago shuttle serves uptown, but that bus makes only 14 daily stops between 4396 N. Broadway and the casino. The service also runs only between 1:15 pm and 8:45 pm.

We are in the hospitality business, and we are constantly listening to our customers, evaluating our amenities and adjusting our offerings based on guest preferences as we move closer to opening our world-class casino and entertainment destination on the banks of the Chicago River,” a Bally’s Chicago spokesperson told Block Club Chicago, a nonprofit news organization “dedicated to delivering reliable, nonpartisan, and essential coverage of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods.

Gambling is more embedded in Asian culture than it is in the West. Playing and wagering modest sums on mahjong during family celebrations and holidays often ingrains the belief that gambling is harmless.

Many Asian cultures also believe that taking risks is part of life, and gambling plays into that. There is also the famous Chinese proverb that reads, “If you don’t gamble, you won’t know how lucky you are.”

The deep-rooted gambling culture has led to higher rates of problem gambling.

The prevalence of gambling addiction in China is much higher than in any Western country,” the International Psychiatry Journal wrote in a 2014 study.

In China, as much as 5% of the adult population is believed to have a severe gambling addiction. That’s despite most forms of gambling, aside from the state-run lottery, being banned on the mainland.

Windy City Headwinds

Bally’s Chicago’s temporary casino has greatly underperformed preopening revenue projections. Things slightly improved in 2024.

Before the temporary casino opened, city officials projected that the facility would generate monthly GGR of around $20 million.