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Bally’s Corporation Chairman Soo Kim has floated the idea of offering as much as 10% of the equity in the company’s potential casino in New York to local residents. Kim’s suggestion mimics Bally’s attempt to offer shares in its future Chicago resort to qualified residents of that city. However, that effort has encountered legal issues.
While Bally’s has shared many details of its plans for a casino in the Bronx, whether it will realize that opportunity depends on decisions from multiple local and state officials in New York. Offering shares to residents could be a tactic to sway those decisions to benefit Bally’s.
Hypothetical Bally’s Bronx shares to start at $250
Kim stressed that in the investment model he is proposing, investments in the possible Bally’s Bronx casino would be available for as little as $250. The total of the shares offered would amount to as much as 10% of the interest in the casino’s operation according to Kim.
Kim did not discuss any qualification parameters for purchasing stakes of the company’s venture in downstate New York. Limiting investments to women and minorities for contractual reasons was the source of its difficulties in Illinois.
Bally’s has already outlined its vision for the Bronx enterprise and secured access to 17 acres on Ferry Point. On that site, Bally’s would like to establish not only a casino but public multi-use space and a hotel. Currently, the land hosts a golf course that was once the Trump Golf Links but now bears Bally’s name.
In order to make any of those plans a reality, Bally’s needs multiple governmental agencies and figures to cooperate. That begins with the state legislators representing the Ferry Point area, as only the state legislature can provide the necessary alienation to provide for Bally’s plans.
Should that designation change, the plans for the Bally’s casino would still need approval from the appropriate Community Advisory Committee and the New York State Gaming Facility Location Board. Furthermore, Bally’s would also need to land a gaming license from the New York State Gaming Commission.
Offering shares to residents in the Bronx might make decision-makers more amenable to lean toward Bally’s. However, Bally’s has already found that making these kind of commitments can be easier than fulfilling them.
Bally’s encounters issues with similar program in Chicago
In 2022, Bally’s won the bidding process to build the first casino in Chicago with an agreement with the city that 25% of the equity in the casino’s operations would be controlled by minorities or minority-owned businesses. To fulfill that obligation, Bally’s offered shares in casino to women and people self-identifying as belonging to ethnic/racial minorities.
However, that resulted in a lawsuit seeking to block the restriction of sales of the stock to such individuals. Additionally, Mitchell Armentrout of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that the US Securities and Exchange Commission has not approved the public listing of the shares.
Bally’s has vowed to work with the SEC to find an acceptable plan for the IPO and to date is contesting the lawsuit. Bally’s has made no such commitment with any government entity in New York regarding diversity in ownership. The Trump istration has also ordered US companies to end their existing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
At this juncture, there is little reason for Bally’s to form such deals with governments local to Ferry Point, given all the moving parts in action and the primary importance of the land designation change in Albany. If Bally’s gets everything it wants in New York and the Bronx casino project moves forward, Bronx residents may be able to claim an ownership stake.
