As the battle between Bally’s and the city heats up over the advent of video gambling terminals, the casino company has enlisted an unlikely ally — former Mayor Lori Lightfoot — whose administration chose the Rhode Island-based company to build Chicago’s first casino.
Bally’s has hired Lightfoot’s law firm, RKF Global, to navigate the VGT dispute, which the casino company says would violate its contract with the city and potentially void an annual $4 million payment requirement to Chicago as part of that host agreement.
“We are pleased to have built an excellent and knowledgeable team here in Chicago,” Bally’s said in a statement Monday. “As we ramp up our efforts to protect our investment in the city, we have also brought on the strategic counsel of RKF Global PLLC, where former Mayor Lightfoot is a partner.”
Through a spokesperson, Lightfoot deferred comment to Bally’s.
The politically complicated situation has raised a few eyebrows — and ethical concerns — among some aldermen who passed the legislation allowing VGTs over the objections of Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Chicago’s ethics ordinance prohibits former officials who managed a contract from representing that vendor after leaving City Hall. That ban lasts for the duration of the agreement, which Lightfoot authorized for Bally’s in 2022 and is now at the center of another political fight under Johnson.
On Tuesday, Chicago-based law firm RKF Global issued a statement asserting Lightfoot is not in violation of the city’s ethics ordinance, and that the former mayor is able to represent Bally’s in the matter.
“Mayor Lightfoot’s involvement in our firm’s client work related to Bally’s Casino Corporation is in full compliance with all laws and regulations, including the City of Chicago ethics ordinance,” RKF Global said. “Mayor Lightfoot sought and received the guidance of the City’s ethics officer before any involvement in this matter.”
The legalization of video gambling terminals has been a major sticking point between Johnson and the aldermanic opposition that passed this year’s budget over his objections, with the package relying on revenue from the new machines to plug in $6.8 million. Executives at Bally’s, fearing that will bleed into their profits, have saber rattled that they will view it as violation of their contract if the advent of VGTs is not halted.
In a June 17 letter to City Council, Christopher Jewett, senior vice president of corporate development for Bally’s, said absent “urgent action,” the casino company will have “no choice but to pursue all available legal remedies” to address the decision to approve VGTs in Chicago.
There are 268 pending Chicago VGT location applications at the Illinois Gaming Board, an agency spokesperson said Tuesday.
Lightfoot, who recently attended the topping-off ceremony at the permanent casino site for Bally’s Chicago, which is going up at the site of the former Tribune printing plant in River West, certainly played a key role in the project.
In May 2022, Bally’s won a heated competition overseen by the Lightfoot administration, besting four other proposals with its plan to build a $1.7 billion entertainment complex including a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions. Bally’s has been operating a smaller temporary casino at Medinah Temple in the River North since 2023.
At the April topping-off ceremony, Lightfoot, who left office in 2023, took credit for the rising casino, perhaps the signature achievement of her administration.
“It’s not like birthing a child, but it’s pretty damn close,” she told the Tribune.
Whether Lightfoot or her law firm can represent that casino in potential legal proceedings against the city she once led remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Johnson on Tuesday demurred on whether his predecessor was wading into a conflict of interest with Bally’s Chicago retaining her law firm as counsel.
“Look, my focus is ensuring that the City Council recognizes the partnership that Bally’s has made with the city of Chicago,” Johnson said. “Whatever decision that this company, this private corporation makes in who they hire, obviously I don’t have any control over.”
The ethics issue could revolve around whether Lightfoot had “management authority” over the Bally’s agreement.
Chicago’s ethics ordinance prohibits former officials from lobbying the city for two years after leaving office, or for one year in representing a client in matters they were personally and substantially involved in. But the prohibition does not have an expiration date if the former official represents a client who is party to a city contract they had management authority over.
Lightfoot signed the final 2022 agreement with Bally’s — one that required a separate city ordinance for approval and is at the center of the company’s latest threats of litigation should the city not reverse course on legalizing video gambling terminals.
That could put the two mayors and staunch political foes on the same side with respect to the issue of VGTs. A bloc of opposition aldermen approved their legalization to plug in $6.8 million in this year’s budget, which passed over Johnson’s objections.
Whether Lightfoot’s past job constitutes management authority over the Bally’s contract — defined as “personal involvement” or “direct supervisory responsibility” for the agreement — remains to be tested. Steve Berlin, Chicago Board of Ethics director, declined to comment on whether Lightfoot obtained clearance, citing a policy against revealing whether anyone sought advice from his office.
In its statement, RKF Global said that Lightfoot should have the green light to represent Bally’s v. Chicago, should the VGT issue come to that.
“Mayor Lightfoot sought and received the guidance of the City’s ethics officer before any involvement in this matter,” the law firm said. “She complied with the compulsory one year ‘cooling off period’ following her time in office, as required by the ethics ordinance … and is now able to engage directly in this matter.”
