Chicago bars – Six Chicago neighborhoods are already lined up for the city’s first state-sanctioned video gambling machines—while Mayor Brandon Johnson fights to stop operations from starting before a permanent Bally’s casino opens next year. Hundreds of businesses statewide
Beneath the neon glow of Chicago’s bars and restaurants, a new kind of gamble is waiting—state-approved, neighborhood-approved, and now facing one last hurdle: city sign-off.
Across Beverly. Lake View. Mount Greenwood and Printers Row. six bars and restaurants have received the green light from Illinois regulators to install video gambling machines outside of Bally’s Chicago Casino. Before residents can play, city officials still have to approve the machines for operation.
Mayor Brandon Johnson is making a late push to block the machines from running. His finance team has warned that adding slot-style video gambling in more neighborhoods could undercut business at the permanent Bally’s gambling mecca in River West that is finally slated to open next year.
Even with Johnson opposing the plan, the City Council last fall authorized video gambling over his objection—meaning Chicago could end up with more than one gambling destination, regardless of the mayor’s pushback.
At least 279 establishments across the city have signaled they want in. Bars, restaurants, gas stations, and even a veterans’ hall have state applications pending for the right to install slots.
That number is only a starting line. If Chicago fully embraces video gambling, about 3,300 establishments are eligible to apply, with an estimated 80% expected to seek slots—potentially producing more than 2,600 places with machines drawing in gamblers’ cash.
The first wave of applicants is spread across Chicago, but the North Side dominates the early list. There, 146 businesses want to add gambling, including the Cubby Bear, Parrots Bar & Grill and both Emporium locations. On the South Side, 91 businesses have applications pending, among them Reggie’s Bar & Grill and the Cove Lounge. Another 37 closer to downtown are waiting, including Miller’s Pub.
Only five West Side businesses have filed applications. Processing can take months with the state.
Far South Side venues already cleared by the gaming board include Cork and Kerry, Lawlor’s Bar, Hippo’s and Bar 106. Also set to join the mix if city officials sign off are North Side brunch spot Eggsperience and the South Loop’s Half Sour.
All of this arrives inside a much larger Illinois rollout. Across the state. 8. 933 locations already have access to video gaming. with more than 49. 000 slots in operation—described by the Illinois Gaming Board as “the largest regulated video gaming network of its kind in the world.” The same understaffed agency is tasked with vetting. licensing and policing an expansive gambling landscape that includes 17 casinos and one of the largest sports betting markets in America.
Slots have expanded dramatically since the state industry went live in 2012. with more than 1. 100 Illinois municipalities adopting them as tax revenue generators. Chicago’s change came last year. when a council vote lifted the city’s ban. leaving just 83 towns in Illinois still prohibiting video gambling.
Money is one reason the push is moving so quickly. In 2017, slots overtook casinos in Illinois in terms of tax revenue generation, and last year they surpassed the Illinois Lottery. The state collected a staggering $871 million cut for capital projects, while local governments in host towns receive about 5%.
For players, the losses are steep. Gamblers lost more than $3 billion at the machines statewide in 2025. The state takes about 30% off the top for capital projects, and the remainder is divided between terminal operators that provide the slots and host areas.
For Chicago establishments, the machines represent a financial lifeline—an opportunity that many businesses have long wanted while watching gamblers go just outside city limits to suburban joints.
But the rules also come with constraints. Bars and restaurants are limited to six slots, with maximum bets of $4 for payouts of up to $1,199, or progressive jackpots of up to $10,000.
The machines have also drawn rising attention from law enforcement. The lucrative devices have attracted increasing numbers of burglars over the past few years, the Sun-Times has reported.
The tension is especially sharp for Bally’s. The company has said it was promised it wouldn’t have to compete with video gambling machines under the host community agreement signed with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office after she handed them the casino license in 2023.
Now Johnson’s office and Bally’s are warning that a saturated Chicago video gambling market could wipe out over a thousand jobs. They also warn it could erase Bally’s yearly lump-sum $4 million payment to the city and some $74 million in annual city tax revenue down the line.
Bally’s $1.7 billion casino complex is expected to open at 777 W. Chicago Ave. in the first quarter of 2027, after years of delays and complications. The company received approval last month from the Illinois General Assembly to extend its temporary operation at the historic Medinah Temple. That temporary operation, which opened in September 2023, has fallen far short of initial revenue projections.
For now, the next step is procedural—but it’s a step that can determine whether these neighborhood applications become storefront reality. The next round of video gambling licensees is expected to be announced at the gaming board’s next public meeting Aug. 20.
Chicago video gambling slots Illinois Gaming Board Brandon Johnson Bally's River West casino Medinah Temple City Council bars restaurants applications