Bally’s hires – Bally’s says it hired former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s law firm to help pursue a potential lawsuit against Chicago over video gambling terminals—pushing into the spotlight a question ethics watchdogs say can bar former officials from representing new clients in m
When Bally’s says it wants to “protect” its investment in Chicago. it’s also telling the city it may take legal action. The new move: the casino company has hired RKF Global PLLC—former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s law firm—to potentially sue Chicago for allegedly violating the casino host agreement she negotiated while mayor.
Bally’s said in a statement that it brought on strategic counsel “as we ramp up efforts to protect our investment in the city. ” adding that former Mayor Lightfoot is a partner at RKF Global PLLC. The lawsuit, Bally’s said it could pursue, would be tied to Chicago’s decision to legalize video gambling terminals.
Lightfoot declined to comment on her surprise involvement in Bally’s long-threatened legal challenge, which was first disclosed by Crain’s Chicago Business.
The dispute sits on a financial and political fault line in Chicago. A $16.6 billion 2026 budget approved by a City Council majority lifted the Chicago ban on video gambling and assumed the city would generate $6.8 million by licensing newly legalized video gambling terminals across the city. Bally’s. which is building a permanent casino in the River West neighborhood. has strongly opposed legalized video gambling in the city.
For critics, the most immediate concern isn’t the courtroom strategy—it’s who’s at the table. David Greising. president and CEO of the Better Government Association. called Lightfoot’s involvement “a pretty bald conflict of interest.” He said that under his reading of the city’s ethics ordinance. the former mayor “can’t assist an employer or client on a contract over which they had substantial managerial responsibility for the life of that contract.”.
Greising’s description was pointed: “She is being hired to represent a client challenging their allegations about an agreement that she negotiated when she was mayor. It just feels like she’s playing on both sides here,” he said.
Greising said the process surrounding Lightfoot’s selection of Bally’s had already drawn complaints years ago. He said Lightfoot’s choice gave Bally’s “the inside track” and that she had “her thumb on the scale” favoring the company as a bidder. Greising said he did not think there was “any hard and fast proof” of that favoritism. but said it still “raises questions about the objectivity of the process way back then.”.
He also framed the legal threat as an extension of concerns that have followed Bally’s since the project began. “This company has been in trouble right from the get-go. We’ve seen how it has affected the slow-motion development of that property. There is good reason to question the choice and this just raises more questions about her relationship to Bally’s. ” Greising said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th), the City Council’s chief proponent of video gambling terminals, condemned Bally’s decision to hire Lightfoot. Beale called it “a quid pro quo to try to reward somebody who gave them a contract that they never should have gotten in the first place.” He pointed to the company’s history of performance and financing. “Their credit rating was bad. They had never built a casino They’re one of the lowest-performing operators out there. And they were the only ones to commit to giving her $40 million to plug her budget hole,” Beale said.
On the ethics question. Steven Berlin. executive director of the Chicago Board of Ethics. said he could not comment on Bally’s decision itself. But he described the general rule: the city’s ethics ordinance bars a former mayor—for a year after leaving office—from “assisting or representing a new client in subject matters they were personally and substantially involved in.”.
The contract at the center of the dispute dates back to the last time Chicago’s leaders debated Bally’s bid. Three years ago. Lightfoot convinced the City Council to ratify her choice of Bally’s to secure $40 million in upfront payments from Bally’s to keep police and fire pensions solvent and stave off a pre-election property tax increase.
At the time, Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) tried and failed to persuade colleagues to reject Bally’s bid. Their arguments were familiar to residents following the project’s setbacks: Hopkins and Reilly said the $1.7 billion permanent casino and entertainment complex in River West would create an impossible bottleneck in an already congested area. and they said Bally’s has never built a casino from the ground up.
They also accused Lightfoot of bypassing the City Council committee she created to provide “political cover” for a decision she had already made. Reilly added that Lightfoot’s 11th-hour “switcheroo” to the landmark Medinah Temple as the site for Bally’s temporary casino would bring an alarming spike in River North crime. and that the already congested area could not handle the influx of traffic.
Since then. the question of video gambling terminals has returned with sharper edges—dividing the City Council and deepening tensions between alderpersons and Mayor Brandon Johnson. Bally’s argues the shift will cost Chicago money and jobs. The casino company warned that lifting Chicago’s ban on video gambling would cost the cash-strapped city $74 million in annual revenue and up to 1. 050 jobs at its temporary and permanent casinos.
Bally’s also said legalizing the terminals would force the Johnson administration to renegotiate “critical elements” of its host agreement, wipe out a yearly $4 million lump-sum payment from Bally’s, and shrink the casino jackpot needed to save police and fire pension funds.
Johnson has raised strong objections to legalizing video gambling, saying—among other concerns—that he believes it would violate the city’s host agreement with Bally’s and expose the city to a lawsuit filed by the casino giant.
Now, Bally’s has added a new layer to that fight by turning to the firm tied to the former mayor who negotiated the agreement in question—setting the stage for a legal clash that critics say cuts close to the ethics line.
Bally’s Lori Lightfoot Chicago video gambling terminals host agreement City Council Brandon Johnson ethics ordinance RKF Global PLLC Better Government Association