[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by bnk

my subscription expired, anyone care to share some insight in this crains article


https://www.chicagobusiness.com/greg...ders-fight-win

Behind the scenes of Chicago's casino bid battle
Rivals and allies are busy taking shots at each other—some valid, some not. Here's an inside look at the fight to win a prized Chicago casino.

December 22, 2021 01:15 PM UPDATED 2 HOURS AGO

It’s petty stuff

In a new report made available to me, C3 Gaming Group, an industry consultancy working for Bally’s, projects that five years after opening, its casino by McCormick Place would have an effective tax on gross receipts of 32.7%, compared to 26.9% paid by Bluhm’s Rivers Casino in Des Plaines and 25.5% by Hard Rock’s outlet just over the Indiana border.

Chris Jewett, Bally’s director of corporate development, replies that the firm recently completed work on a $150 million project in Rhode Island, and says that the marshaling yard property ultimately will be controlled by the agency that operates McCormick Place.

Then there’s Nadhmi Auchi, the British businessman once convicted in France of accepting kickbacks. His company still controls the 78 property that Bluhm and Related Midwest are proposing to site the casino.

According to Bluhm, Auchi’s firm has agreed to sell the property to the new group for roughly $70 million. A spokesman for Related Midwest underlines that Auchi’s company, General Mediterranean Holding, will not have “any ownership or interest” in the proposed casino.