Bally’s Chicago put out the help wanted sign Wednesday to fill more than 700 positions for its temporary casino at Medinah Temple, which is slated to open in July — pending approval by the Illinois Gaming Board.
The casino is hiring everything from card dealers and security to housekeeping and marketing staff. The full list of open positions is posted on the Bally’s Chicago website.
“We are thrilled to announce Bally’s Chicago Casino has posted all positions required to open and operate our Medinah Temple location,” Ameet Patel, regional general manager of Bally’s, said in a news release.
While Bally’s is staffing up, it remains to be seen whether the temporary casino will be licensed and ready to welcome gamblers by its planned opening in July. It is already slightly behind schedule, with the start date initially targeted for June.
Rhode Island-based Bally’s won a heated competition last year to build a $1.74 billion Chicago casino at the site of the Freedom Center printing plant in River West, getting final planning and zoning approval from the city in December for an entertainment complex that will include an exhibition hall, 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions.
In February, Bally’s gave Tribune Publishing notice to vacate the plant, which prints the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers, with plans to redevelop the 30-acre site and open the permanent casino by 2026.
Bally’s is renovating the landmark Medinah Temple, a 111-year-old Moorish-style amphitheater in River North, to serve as a temporary casino for up to three years while the permanent facility is built. The casino will occupy three floors at Medinah, with more than 800 gaming positions, including slots and table games, three restaurants and a bar.
Over the years, the ornate Medinah Temple has hosted everything from concerts to the annual Shrine Circus. In 2003, the building was redeveloped as a Bloomingdale’s home furnishings store, but it has been vacant for three years.
In February, the Gaming Board approved supplier licenses for the temporary casino, but Bally’s still needs a finding of preliminary suitability before getting a temporary operator’s permit to open and run it. That could be on the agenda at the next meeting on June 15, when Bally’s is slated to appear before the board to seek license renewal for its Quad Cities casino, which it acquired in June 2021 for $120 million.
If Medinah is not on the June agenda, the temporary casino opening may be pushed back beyond July.
“The IGB will determine the schedule and timeline while we continue to work towards our overall readiness to begin operations,” a Bally’s spokesperson said in an email.
Bally’s is recruiting from all Chicago neighborhoods and is offering specialized training for the positions at its temporary casino, including a table games dealer school in partnership with the City Colleges of Chicago. The website lists 61 job descriptions, with such roles as sous chef, marketing coordinator and seamstress among the nongaming positions added to the list Wednesday.
Under current Illinois law, convicted felons need not apply for any jobs at a casino. But a proposed bill working its way through the state legislature may change that for some nongaming positions.
All casino job applicants across the state must be at least 21 years old, and are required to obtain an Illinois gaming license, regardless of their role. Gaming Board employment requirements prohibit hiring anyone convicted of a felony.
In March, the Illinois Senate passed a union-backed bill that would allow convicted felons to be hired for nongaming positions, based on the circumstances of the crime and evidence of rehabilitation. The proposed legislation, Senate Bill 1462, is now under consideration in the House, where it was referred to the Rules Committee last month.
“The Illinois Gaming Board believes that the language in Senate Bill 1462 allows individuals with a criminal record an opportunity for gainful employment at an Illinois casino and gives them a second chance to move beyond their past mistakes,” Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter said in a statement Wednesday.
Bally’s declined to comment on the proposed legislation.
