Bally’s Targeting August to Bring $250M Chicago IPO to Market

• Updated SEC filing indicates offering could roll out next month
• Previously controversial share sale still being reviewed by SEC
• Race-based requirement has been stripped

Bally’s once controversial $250 million Chicago initial public offering (IPO) is inching closer to reality and could be ready to roll out as soon as next month.

That’s assuming the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approves the share sale. Earlier this week, the regional casino operator updated investors on goings on related to the Windy City investment opportunity, noting it filed a Form S-1 filing with the commission.

With this filing completed, assuming no additional comments from the SEC, Bally’s Chicago is currently targeting to close both the IPO and the second tranche of the concurrent private placement in early August 2025,” Bally’s wrote in a letter to prospective investors.

That letter was included in the new regulatory filing. The Rhode Island-based gaming company is aiming to raise $250 million to go toward its $1.7 billion integrated resort in the third-largest US city. It’s the operator’s most expensive project and the permanent casino hotel is slated to open in 2026. Bally’s currently runs a temporary gaming venue in the Medinah Temple neighborhood. Loop Capital is leading the Chicago IPO for the gaming company.

Bally’s Putting Chicago IPO Controversy to Rest

As part of the host city agreement (HCA), Bally’s wanted to sell a 25% stake in the first gaming venue in the Chicago city limits, but the offering was originally confined to minorities and women. The initial plan drew solid interest from locals, but it also stirred dissention due to the gender- and race-based qualifier.

The gaming company and Illinois regulators settled two lawsuits, including one courtesy of the Liberty Justice Center, brought by aggrieved prospective investors that claimed the gender/race-driven IPO plan was discriminatory.

Bally’s ultimately scrapped those requirements, opening the Chicago IPO to a broader set of would-be investors. That move is likely to limit potential legal exposure and could be meaningful in expediting the share sale.

Bally’s Chicago Funding Update

Last year, Gaming and Leisure Properties (NASDAQ: GLPI) announced a $2 billion transaction in which it acquired the property assets of Bally’s Chicago venue as well as the real estate of Bally’s Kansas City and Bally’s Shreveport. The transaction was pivotal in terms of providing the gaming company with the capital needed to complete the Chicago project.

The real estate investment trust’s (REIT) capital commitment to Bally’s was a topic of discussion on the landlord’s second-quarter earnings conference call Thursday. GLPI said the budget for the Windy City casino hotel project remains unchanged.

On the conference call, CFO Desiree Burke said the REIT feels good about the dollar amount being directed to Chicago. COO and President Brandon Moore said in response to an analyst question that Bally’s Chicago is classified as part of the operator’s “unrestricted group” and there is not yet a parent guarantee supporting the financing, but he added that a recent Bally’s regulatory filing indicates there are pathways “to adding that Chicago property to the parent guarantee and the restricted group.”