Bally's Corporation (BALY) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Bally's Chicago Update Conference Call. My name is Regina, and I will be your operator this afternoon. I will now turn the call over to Wanda Wilson, Chairwoman of the Bally's Chicago Inc. Board. Please go ahead, Ms. Wilson.

Thank you, Regina. Good afternoon, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today for an update on our commitment to and progress on Bally's Chicago. I am Wanda Young Wilson, a member of the Board of Directors of Bally's Corporation and the Chairwoman of the Bally's Chicago Board. As a native Chicagoan and proud outsider, I'm especially excited to serve in this role and be part of a project that represents a truly transformational investment in Chicago, one that is creating jobs, generating significant economic activity and opportunities and delivering a world-class entertainment destination in the heart of our great city. We are incredibly excited about the progress of Bally's Chicago and what this project will mean for Chicago residents, our families, our partners and the future of our city. Today, we want to provide an update on the project, the progress underway and address several important developments affecting our that is your mind as well as Bally's investment in Chicago. Before we begin, we would like to remind everyone that comments made by management today may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including statements about the Bally's Chicago project time line, capital commitments, construction progress and expected opening date. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including construction risks, changes in laws and regulations, including the legalization of video gaming terminals, dispute with the city of Chicago, financing conditions, the timing and receipt of required gaming regulatory approvals and macroeconomic conditions. Actual results may differ materially. Additional risk factors are described in Bally's Corporation's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bally's undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements, except as required by law. Joining me are Soo Kim, Executive Chairman of Bally's Corporation; and Kim Barker, Bally's Chief Legal Officer. Sue will provide our local investors with additional context on the project our continued commitment to delivering Bally's Chicago and the steps we are taking to protect this transformational investment and the commitments upon which it was made. With that, it's my pleasure to turn it over to Soo Kim..

Thank you, Wanda, and thank you, everyone, for joining us on today's call. The purpose of the call is to reiterate our deep commitment about Chicago, provide an update on our progress and to address some misperceptions out there in the press. I want to start by reiterating our excitement that Bally's Chicago is on track to open in early 2027. That hasn't changed. September 9, 2026, marked the 3-year anniversary of the opening Bally's Chicago temporary casino located in [indiscernible]. There's also a date we appeared before the Chicago City Council to provide information on the status of construction Bally's financials and our compliance with the host community agreement with the Subika. Since being selected in 2022 as a winner of the RFP to become Chicago's sole casino, Bally's have worked diligently in good faith with the city, ordained labor regulators and the broader Chicago community to deliver a world-class integrated casino and resort. However, there have been inaccurate reports suggesting that construction has come to a pause. It that's not. Construction continues every day. and there are approximately 1,000 skilled trade people working on the construction of the Bally's resort.. This project is a game changer for the city as it is creating well-paying jobs, entertainment and new sources of revenue for the city and its residents while creating a world-class attraction for tourists, thus providing additional economic benefit. What has not been reported after at the media is that Bally's is expected to meet the $1.34 billion minimum capital commitment acquired under our agreements with the City of Chicago. For more information about Bally's capital resources, please refer to Bally's for filing. Now to address the current issue, in July of 2026, Bally's notified the city of Chicago with the legalization of video gaming terminals or BGP in the city of Chicago was a violation of the terms and economic underpin of the host community agreement we signed with the city of Chicago. In August, we notified our general contractor that we were revaluing the phasing of certain nongaming elements of the Chicago process in light of the uncertainty created by the legalization of BGT in Chicago. Bally's took these actions because our responsibility is clear for our responsibilities, we are acting to protect our investors, those that have accessed the opportunity to invest directly in the project, we have a responsibility to our investors to preserve the value of Bally's Chicago and to ensure the commitments that underpin this investment and our agreement with the City of Chicago area. Bally's and its financial backers made a significant long-term cement Chicago based on clearly defined agreements with the city and acknowledge regulatory and competitive environment. We remain committed to the project and to fulfilling every obligation of ours under the ACA hosting agreement. Now let me address the construction reset and what it needs. In August, Bally's Chicago changed how we are sequel concerned now of the development. Sales was on pace to exceed both development deliverables and time lines required under CA. We were over delivering on our promises. And let me be clear, those reset is not a pause stoppage, we are aligning the sequencing of our investments and development with requirements and time lines established under the year. that is disciplined capital allocation reflecting the interest of our investors, employees and the community. In summary, investors should view our actions to a straightforward lands. We are protecting the value of significant investments we're making in Chicago while basically executing against our contractual opposition. And let me say this again, we remain fully committed to Chicago. We're committed to opening in early 2027, and we remain committed to delivering the requirements of BHC as we continue discussions with the city of Chicago and the Chicago City Council about the impact of legalization that PTTs will have on balance sheet car. These positions are entirely consistent, honor our commitments, protect our investors and expect our contractual partner to honor its can as well. Bally's Chicago will be the first casino in the city at destination, hotel entertained venue that will showcase the best Chicago arcing culture to in sports and curated timing and entertainment experiences. We look forward to welcoming everyone on the property in early 2027 and invite everyone to tour the site and see the progress for themselves. Bally's Chicago will send direct correspondence to our shareholders the sign of the tours of our permanent Bally's Chicago site, which is our new construction currently. You will have an opportunity to find out for convenient time slots where you can see the progress through a guided tour. That correspondence will come out here this week. We appreciate your support in and goodwill around Bally's Chicago. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this will conclude today's call. Thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.