Chicago’s casino bet on Bally’s could go bust if the company goes private, according to a pair of high-profile investors trying to block a takeover effort by the debt-laden corporation’s chairman, Soo Kim.
As Bally’s scrambles to secure $800 million to build its permanent casino in River West, Kim’s bid “jeopardizes the completion of the Chicago project, putting at further risk gainful employment and tax generation in Illinois,” investors from K&F Growth Capital wrote in a letter to Bally’s board of directors Tuesday.
Shareholders — and Chicago taxpayers — would be better served if Bally’s “immediately” partnered with a more experienced, high-end gambling company to execute the remainder of the $1.7 billion project, according to K&F managing partners Dan Fetters and Edward King.
