Bally's Chicago completes its $250 million IPO, falls short of fundraising target
The company created 10,000 Class A shares valued at $25,000 each, but sold only 2,551 shares to public investors, according to a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
That puts the value of the IPO at $96.7 million, including Class A investments, private placement and Bally's funding to support the individual investors, according to the company. The gross proceeds to the company from the initial public offering were $5.5 million, according to the filing.
Bally's Chicago is now shifting its emphasis to round out the private placement of shares to accredited investors and institutions in order to fulfill its obligations to the host community agreement with Chicago. At the same time, Bally's Chicago will continue to offer private placement of the Class A interests, the company said.
'It just was a long journey to get that through the federal government, but we were able to do it, and now there's going to be 1,800 more investors in the Bally's Chicago project,' Bally's Chairman Soo Kim told the Tribune Friday. 'It's not huge dollars, but it's an opportunity to let people participate with us, and also absolutely helps us achieve the goals of the host community agreement.'
The IPO has navigated lawsuits and regulatory delays since launching in January. It was refiled for a second time July 15 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to update the company's financials during the eight-month process.
The $250 million IPO was initially an exclusive opportunity for women and minorities to buy a 25% equity stake in the casino, looking to fulfill a commitment to the city and raise money for the construction of its planned $1.7 billion entertainment complex in River West.
In April, Bally's refiled and expanded the IPO to include any potential investors, with 'preferential allocations' to Chicago and Illinois residents.
The elimination of the minority requirements in the IPO came as Bally's and the city faced two lawsuits in Chicago federal court alleging the investment opportunity discriminated against white men. Both lawsuits were settled, according to court filings.
The IPO created 10,000 Class A shares featuring four classes of stock ranging from $250 to $25,000, supplemented by loans from Bally's Chicago to enable 'underrepresented communities' to participate.
The final tally allocated 2,076 shares at $250 each, 173 shares at $2,500 each, 148 shares at $5,000 each and154 shares at $25,000 each, according to the filing.
Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets served as the lead placement agent for the IPO.
In May 2022, Rhode Island-based Bally's was selected by the city to build the Chicago casino with a proposal that includes an exhibition hall, a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions at the 30-acre site of the former Chicago Tribune printing plant.
Bally's Chicago has been operating a temporary casino at Medinah Temple in River North since September 2023.
Meanwhile, several new permanent casinos have launched successfully since then, including Wind Creek Chicago Southland, Hard Rock Rockford and most recently, Hollywood Casino Joliet, which opened its new $185 million land-based casino Monday.
While there have been some construction delays, Bally's has begun building the steel and concrete entertainment complex, and has continued to target opening the permanent casino by September 2026.
On Friday, Kim indicated construction delays may push the opening date back a few months, suggesting the fourth quarter of 2026 as a revised target.
'We're trying,' Kim said. 'It's just taken a long time to get the building going.'
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Upturn
18 minutes ago
- Business Upturn
GridStrat Unveils GridStrat Clarity, a Business and Industry-Aware AI Engine for Improved AI Search Visibility and Live Market Intelligence
Calgary, Aug. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — GridStrat today announced the launch of GridStrat Clarity, a business-aware AI platform that continuously analyzes a company and its operating environment to improve how AI systems answer questions about the business and to surface live market signals for sales, financing, and compliance teams. The Calgary-based firm specifies that the platform merges Generative Answer Engine Optimization (AEO/GEO) with continuous business ecosystem monitoring, a response to corporate and customer decisions increasingly originating and receiving decision support from AI tools. 'AI is now the front door to most buying and strategic decision making. GridStrat Clarity maximizes your business's value creation potential in this critical environment by continuously teaching AI systems the correct and most compelling facts about your business. Now you can ensure prospective stakeholders, from customers to investors, have your best information at their fingertips, and you can get ahead and stay ahead of competition by more rapidly digesting market shifts and improving your tactics.' — Ryan McDonald, Founder & CEO, GridStrat The platform's AI Visibility Optimization is already delivering significant results. It audits what popular AI tools like ChatGPT, Google AI infused search, Gemini, and Perplexity know about a business, provides guidance to improve recommendation visibility, corrects inaccuracies with structured, verifiable information, and helps earn accurate citations for high-intent queries. 'In just over a month, we moved from basically invisible in AI search recommendations to number 1 in both of our targeted growth markets, Idaho and Washington, for our product category,' said Terry Sydoryk, CEO of Cellar Insights. 'That shift has positioned us far more effectively to meet our company's sales objectives.' Beyond public visibility, GridStrat Clarity provides continuous, company-specific intelligence by tracking organizations, customers, policies, competitors, technologies, and key events. This allows it to route critical signals into actionable briefings and workflows. This new AI-driven landscape impacts the entire business ecosystem, including consulting and marketing communications partners. 'PR is a major contributor to AI answer credibility… GridStrat Clarity ensures our clients are represented accurately. Additionally, it equips their executives, and our team!, with GridStrat's strategic news monitoring and market intelligence, empowering everyone to move smarter and execute faster,' said Dalyce Semko, Founder & CEO of communications partner ExpandCommunications. Why This Matters AI systems are rapidly becoming a critical component of business, from product and vendor evaluation to exploring strategic scenarios and assisting with content and workflow. Simultaneously, markets, technologies, and regulatory and policy signals are changing more rapidly than ever. Organizations require improved and more accurate representation in AI answers for both external parties and for their own internal teams. GridStrat Clarity achieves this through continuous business ecosystem awareness to make more timely, informed decisions. Availability and Early Access GridStrat Clarity is available now to qualified customers and agency partners. GridStrat will also be opening limited Early Access programs for new modules built on the same business-aware core, including Target ID & Account Radar, Capital Signals & Grant Finder, and M&A support. Interested companies can join the waitlist. For more details, visit And contact: [email protected] About GridStrat GridStrat is a high-performance consulting and AI solutions firm based in Calgary, Alberta, dedicated to assisting founders and executives in achieving scalable, rapid, and efficient growth. The company specializes in growth strategy, business development, capital advisory, and AI-enhanced business tools to help clients across North America penetrate new markets, secure growth capital, and harness advanced technologies effectively. Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Blue states plan new tax hikes on wealthy residents in response to Trump's federal tax legislation
Blue states around the U.S. are planning tax hikes on wealthy residents to bring in additional revenue through a variety of proposals, including one state's so-called "Taylor Swift tax." The moves come after the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) by President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress, which permanently extended many of the 2017 tax cuts and included other new tax relief provisions as well as spending cuts to programs such as Medicaid. Democrats argue these tax hike proposals are needed to help plug gaps in state budgets and offset any lost federal dollars for Medicaid and other programs. The state of Rhode Island enacted a new tax this summer that will impose a special levy on vacation homes valued at $1 million or more, which has become known as the "Taylor Swift tax" due to the music star owning a home in an affluent part of Westerly, Rhode Island, The Wall Street Journal reported. Taylor Swift: Here's How The Pop Superstar Achieved Billionaire Status Rhode Island's "Taylor Swift tax" imposes a tax of $2.50 for every $500 of assessed value above $1 million, which a analysis estimated would result in an additional $136,000 in property taxes on her luxury home in the Watch Hill neighborhood that's valued at $17 million. Read On The Fox Business App Montana wants to increase property taxes on non-primary residences, adopting a new reform that will reduce property tax rates for owner-occupied primary homes while hiking the rate to 1.9% for second homes or short-term rentals, with industrial properties also set to face higher levies. Lawmakers want to provide not only a tax break to about 230,000 homeowners, but incentivize owners of vacation properties or second homes to sell those properties to inject more inventory into a tight real estate market, reported. Mamdani's Rise In Nyc Mirrors Economic Flight To The South, Study Shows This spring, Maryland enacted a new tax policy that raises income tax rates on residents earning over $500,000 a year to narrow the state's budget deficit. Another state in the Northeast is also mulling a tax hike on wealthy residents, with lawmakers in Connecticut considering legislation that would raise income tax rates on individuals earning $250,000 or more, or twice that amount for couples, to help offset an anticipated decrease in federal funding. How Much Can People Save On Taxes By Moving To Florida? The state of Washington this spring passed a budget that will raise its capital gains tax from 7% to 9%, though the tax's structure excludes real estate sales and focuses on other transactions like those involving stocks, bonds or business interests. Washington doesn't have an income tax, and the state constitution prohibits one. Washington has in the past seen wealthy residents depart the state to avoid the high tax burden, such as when Amazon founder Jeff Bezos left for low-tax Florida. That phenomenon has occurred in other high-tax states, such as California, New York, New Jersey and Illinois, which have seen wealthy residents and corporations leave in favor of states with lower article source: Blue states plan new tax hikes on wealthy residents in response to Trump's federal tax legislation Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
UnitedHealth Group shares climb as Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway discloses stake in the insurer
Shares of UnitedHealth Group are surging before the market open Friday as Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it recently purchased shares of the beleaguered insurer. Berkshire Hathaway bought around 5 million shares of UnitedHealth last quarter, according to a regulatory filing. The stake was valued at about $1.57 billion. Buffett plans to retire as CEO at the end of the year after six decades of building Berkshire Hathaway. Many investors comb through Berkshire's filings every quarter because they like to follow Buffett's moves. The filing doesn't make clear who at Berkshire handled the investment. Besides Buffett, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs also pick stocks, but they generally handle smaller portfolios and Combs also serves as Geico's CEO. Besides stocks, Berkshire owns dozens of companies in a variety of industries including Geico insurance, BNSF railroad, several major utilities and an assortment of manufacturing and retail companies. The Omaha, Nebraska-based company's holdings include many well-known brands like See's Candy and Dairy Queen. UnitedHealth has been dealing with a series of difficulties. Last month the company said that it was cooperating with federal criminal and civil investigations involving its market-leading Medicare business. The health care giant said at the time that it had contacted the Department of Justice after reviewing media reports about investigations into certain elements of its business. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal said federal officials had launched a civil fraud investigation into how the company records diagnoses that lead to extra payments for its Medicare Advantage, or MA, plans. Those are privately run versions of the government's Medicare coverage program mostly for people ages 65 and over. The company's UnitedHealthcare business covers more than 8 million people as the nation's largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans. The business has been under pressure in recent quarters due to rising care use and rate cuts. The Journal said in February, citing anonymous sources, that the probe focused on billing practices in recent months. The paper has since said that a federal criminal health care-fraud unit was investigating how the company used doctors and nurses to gather diagnoses that bolster payments. UnitedHealth Group Inc. runs one of the nation's largest health insurance and pharmacy benefits management businesses. It also operates a growing Optum business that provides care and technology support. UnitedHealth's stock has mostly shed value since December, when UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan on his way to the company's annual investor meeting. A suspect, Luigi Mangione, has been charged in connection with the shooting. In April, shares plunged some more after the company cut its forecast due to a spike in health care use. A month later, former CEO Andrew Witty resigned, and the company withdrew its forecast entirely, saying that medical costs from new Medicare Advantage members were higher than expected. UnitedHealth's stock jumped more than 12% in premarket trading on Friday. Still, the stock has lost roughly half its value in the past year. Chapman writes for the Associated Press.
