Mayor Brandon Johnson celebrated alongside Bally’s chairman Soo Kim on Thursday for the installation of the final support beam at the long-sought casino under construction in River West, which officials say is on track to finally open early next year.
All the company has to do until then is persuade state lawmakers to give them extra time operating their temporary casino, await potential discipline from state regulators for using a waste hauler once connected to the mob, and navigate competition from video gambling terminals that could light up across the city later this year.
It’s no small order for Bally’s. Then again, nothing has come easy for the Rhode Island-based corporation or city taxpayers during a four-years-and-counting casino saga marked by financial strain and logistical missteps.
