Stained glass windows dot the walls and are separated from patrons by glass partitions to preserve them, and the former Bloomingdale’s signs were updated to feature Bally’s logo to be “the least intrusive.” Patel said Bally’s wanted to be sure not to modify the building’s historic elements. Will it still look like the historic building inside?

A Wabash Cafe on the first floor also offers coffee and snacks like a brie and apples box or a slice of strawberry shortcake. The casino’s upper floors feature two restaurants – Medinah Bistro and an Asian-inspired Kitchen 888 – which both have seating options that allow diners to eat out on the floor near the gaming action.

“What we are focused on is definitely by the time we open the permanent casino where we have the luxury of much larger space for sportsbook and much larger ambience to work with, we will have a full scale sportsbook operation there.” “We expect to start with sports betting sometime after we open, but not necessarily immediately,” Patel said. Patel said Bally’s hopes to offer sports betting in the future at Medinah Temple – and the permanent casino – once the operator is approved. “The city actually engaged the committee in advance of the selection as a measure of transparency in order to ensure that they are more informed of that process.Take the escalators – holdovers from the building’s era as a Bloomingdale’s home store – up to the second and third floors and in addition to slots players can place their bets at table games such as baccarat, black jack and roulette. “The City Council doesn’t actually ever make a selection for any procurement process that the city ever does,” Bennett said. Jennie Huang Bennett, the city’s chief financial officer, pushed back against the claim that Lightfoot went around a special committee that critics argue was formed to create an illusion of transparency. Lightfoot has brushed aside critics accusing her of trying to fast track her preferred pick through the Council, and then on to the Illinois Gaming Board, which has the final say on issuing a casino license. The city’s cut from the casino is earmarked for nearly insolvent police and firefighter pension funds. Walter Burnett, whose 27th ward includes the final casino site, has thrown his full support behind the proposal, siding with Lightfoot’s claim that the alternative would be a property tax hike.

Chicago casino update