Chicago casino daily attendance, win dips in second month
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Has luck already run out for the new casino in downtown Chicago?
Data recently released by the Illinois Gaming Board show Bally's Chicago saw fewer people wagering less money on a daily basis in October compared to its partial first month of operations in September.
Altogether, Bally's tallied 83,113 guests at its Medinah Temple gaming facility in October — the second-highest attendance of Illinois' 15 casinos last month, behind only the Rivers Casino in west suburban Des Plaines and its 250,779 patrons.
On a daily basis, however, Bally's visitor count averaged 2,681 across each of the 31 days in October. That's a 20% drop from the 3,347 daily visitors Bally's averaged in September when 80,330 people passed through its turnstiles over 24 days, records show.
More importantly, Bally's in October saw a smaller daily "win" — which is the casino's revenue after paying out slot machine and table game players — compared to September.
October win at the Chicago casino totaled $7.6 million, or $245,446 a day. That was a nearly 12% decline from the $278,268 in daily win at Bally's during September.
Overall, Bally's October win ranked fourth-highest in Illinois behind Rivers ($43.3 million), Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin ($11.8 million), and Harrah's Joliet ($10.1 million).
The American Place temporary casino in Waukegan, with $7.3 million in October win, also nearly topped Bally's Chicago, records show.
The Indiana Gaming Commission isn't scheduled to release its October revenue report for Hoosier State casinos until Monday.
But if history is any guide, the casinos in Hammond, East Chicago, Gary and Michigan City each will show a considerably higher win last month compared to the new Chicago casino.
In October 2022, for example, the lowest win at a Northwest Indiana casino was $11.1 million at Blue Chip in Michigan City.
Ameristar Casino in East Chicago tallied $15.9 million in October 2022 win, Horseshoe Casino in Hammond took in $29.1 million, and the Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary led the state that month last year with $36.3 million in win, or $1.2 million per day, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission.
Nevertheless, Bally's officials said during the company's Nov. 1 investor conference call they remain bullish on Chicago and the potential for Bally's temporary casino at Medinah Temple to generate a strong customer database ahead of the anticipated 2026 opening of its permanent $1.7 billion gaming, dining, lodging and entertainment destination in the city's River West neighborhood.
They also claimed the temporary casino at 600 N. Wabash is attracting strong play from Bally's VIP players, repeat visits by Bally's Reward customers, and bringing in a good mix of local and tourist traffic.
