Graffiti on Bally’s Chicago Hotel Tower Paints Picture of Stalled Worksite  

Construction on the 34-story Bally’s Chicago hotel abruptly ground to a halt on Aug. 9. With the worksite abandoned, graffiti soon covered the tower’s upper floors. More than two months later, the tags remain a visible symbol of the stalled project intended to help solve Chicago’s pension shortfall.

Around mid-August, the top six floors of the unfinished Bally’s Chicago tower were vandalized with graffiti. The markings remain a prominent reminder to passersby that work is still on hold at the $1.7 billion casino destination.

Bally’s Corp. halted construction on non-casino elements of the resort after the city moved to permit video gaming terminals (VGTs) in restaurants, truck stops, and veterans’ halls. The operator contends VGTs breach its Host Community Agreement (HCA), which grants the casino exclusive rights to operate slot-style gaming within city limits.

Bally’s says construction crews continue to focus on the casino floor and supporting amenities. The permanent Bally’s Chicago casino is planned to house over 3,000 slot machines and 170 live dealer table games. Bally’s says the casino will additionally include a “world-class sportsbook.”

Bally’s Chicago Graffiti

The Bally’s Chicago hotel graffiti was reportedly done by SOPO, an urban graffiti artist known for scaling high-rises and performing rope-assisted tags.

SOPO is a well-known graffiti artist based in Chicago who primarily uses Rust-Oleum spray paint, commonly known as “rustos” in the graffiti community. Rustos is generally thought to be impossible to fully remove.

Bally’s Chicago hasn’t yet tried to remove SOPO’s graffiti on the hotel tower’s concrete core, which continues to be exposed to the streets below. Two other lesser-known graffiti artists reportedly accompanied SOPO on the Bally’s Chicago vandalism, with the tags NOMS and Neme accompanying SOPO’s identifier.

Other notable structures SOPO has graffitied include the Canal Street railroad bridge and high-rise structures visible along the CTA Blue Line.

Proponents note that graffiti is as old as civilization itself, tracing its origins to prehistoric cave markings. The word “graffiti” comes from the Italian term for “scratched.” Modern graffiti took root in Philadelphia during the 1960s before exploding into a mainstream movement in New York City in the early 1970s.  

Stalemate Continues

It’s been 78 days since work stopped on the 500-room Bally’s Chicago hotel, 3,000-seat theater, and Chicago Riverwalk public greenspace. Bally’s continues to lobby city lawmakers to reverse course regarding VGTs, tapping former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s law firm, Fahner Rosenberg, to help sway the Chicago City Council.

As of now, the standoff remains unresolved. Last month, Bally’s upheld its end of the HCA by making its annual $4 million community impact payment to the city.