Bally's Bronx might be politically divisive, but it didn't stop New Yorkers from showing up on Tuesday to support it.

The first public meeting for the Bally's Bronx casino project took place on Tuesday night. One thing was clear: people in the Bronx want one of the downstate New York licenses.

Bally's was the third New York proposal to have a hearing, which took place in the convention center at 1200 Waters Place. There are eight proposals for three downstate licenses that will be given out this year. Bally's is the only Bronx company that has put in a bid.

The gambling corporation says it wants to invest in the borough because of its economic problems. It wants to build a $4 billion integrated resort at Ferry Point, on a golf course that the Trump Organization bought in 2023. Earlier this month, Bally's Chairman Soo Kim said in a presentation that his company's bid was the "most responsive" to the state's goal of maximising economic effect.

About three-quarters of the people who spoke on Tuesday were in favour of the initiative. In comparison, the MGM Empire City and Caesars Times Square projects got a lot more criticism at recent public hearings.

In the past few weeks, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has helped keep the Bally's bid alive twice. His reason for doing so is to provide the Bronx an equal chance at economic development. A lot of people in the area seemed to like these kinds of feelings.

Edward Romeo, a former member of Bronx Community Board 10, stated, "I'm kind of shocked that Bally's wants to come in and invest, and I welcome that 100%." Romeo remarked that the Bronx has always been the city's "designated kick in the ass."

Getting to know the Bronx community
A lot of people who were in favour of casinos said they weren't perfect. But they thought that if Bally's was willing to make the biggest private investment in the borough's history, then so be it.

"Let's make sure they keep their promises, but let's also give them a chance." Lauren Patterson, a local resident, added, "You can't be against people doing better," which made the crowd happy.

In April, Bally's won over the Bronx community by keeping Preston High School, an all-girls school in the area, open. The Bally's Foundation bought the school for $8.5 million and then rented it back for $1. It also paid for repairs. Several young kids who are going to Preston next year spoke out in favour.

Union leaders also came to all of the New York bids to speak up for their members. Bally's is promising 15,000 construction jobs, which is one of the greatest numbers of jobs offered by a casino. There were a lot of people from IBEW Local 3 at the meeting on Tuesday.

Ray West, a business representative for Local 3, said, "As someone who cares about jobs and people working, I'm very excited about the project. I really appreciate Bally's commitment to the neighbourhood, and that gives me faith that they will keep it up."

Opposition to parks usage and traffic jams
Some people pushed back, mostly about the construction of parkland. Bally's needed permission to rezone the site in order to get a licence, and other people thought the parkland should be used in a different way.

Local resident Al Quattlebaum remarked, "I'm against the casino at Ferry Point because it betrays our community." "Our parkland was meant for families, kids, and seniors, not a casino." Bally's casino is a betrayal of what our community needs in order to make money for businesses.

Bally's had asked area voters to sign a pledge card, and one woman brought one. She said it was dishonest and didn't say anything about a casino. Danielle Volpe, a member of the project's local community advisory committee (CAC), has already talked about this. The CAC will vote on whether the proposal bid should go to the state for consideration by September 30.

A man who worked for the city's Department of Housing Preservation and Development and whose name was not clear pointed out the possible bad consequences a casino could have.

He said, "In 20 years, many of you will wish you had made this choice." "You want to promote gambling in a borough that is already having a hard time, and you want to bring millions more cars into a community with the highest asthma rate in the country." That is not progress.

The next hearing will be on September 9. After then, the project's CAC can have more hearings, but they only need to hold two. For Bally's application to stay in the running, four out of six CAC members must vote in favour of it.

The corporation had a steady second quarter.
As the race for casinos in New York goes on, Bally's seems to be holding firm in other places. On August 11, the company said that its group revenue for the second quarter was $657.5 million, up over 6% from the same time last year. Its casino and resorts business, in particular, grew by 15% year over year to $393 million. The merger with Queen Casino & Entertainment in February added four properties, which led to this increase.

It's important to point out that the results only show revenue, not net profits.

The company's interactive revenue in North America was $56.5 million, which is 21% more than last year. Bally's is the only company that offers iGaming in Rhode Island, and it is growing its Bally Bet digital platform in more places. Right now, the platform is up and running in 11 US states and Ontario, Canada.

International digital revenue fell 10% to $206 million, and Q2 was basically the last quarter of operations for that part of the company. Last November, Bally sold its Asian interactive business. In July, it sold the rest of its international assets to Intralot for €2.7 billion (US$3.1 billion). The €1.53 billion in cash will help the corporation pay off its senior debt, which is a tremendous relief.

Bally's had $174.5 million in cash and $3.5 billion in net debt at the conclusion of the quarter. That was less cash and more debt than in the first quarter, which made its long-term viability even less likely. Fitch Ratings has slowly lowered Bally's issuer default rating from a B+ in July 2021 to a B- with a negative outlook currently. The corporation has still been able to move forward with a number of acquisitions during that time, though.

The Chicago IPO is over, but it could help New York bids.
In other company news, Bally's said on August 14 that it has finished the first round of share buying for its initial public offering (IPO) for its permanent Chicago casino, which has to be built quickly so that it may open by September 2026.

The announcement says that "nearly 1,800 unique shareholders, including 1,007 Chicagoans and 1,573 Illinois-based shareholders," bought shares. The company plans to do "a few rounds of placements," and this was the first one. The price of shares ranged from $250 to $25,000. The initiative is meant to meet the city's requirements for minority ownership.

Bally's was sued for discrimination when it first tried to issue the IPO, which the Securities and Exchange Commission never approved. Some people have said that the investment is dangerous and not very clear.

There is even talk of a similar IPO campaign for Bally's Bronx, which would give investors 9% of the project's equity.

Bally's Senior Vice President of Corporate Development Christopher Jewett said in an earlier presentation, "We see these shares of the [investment program] being available for as little as $250 or $500, giving people of all social classes a chance to own equity."

Two other bidders from New York, Freedom Plaza from the Soloviev Group and Caesars Times Square, are also promising local IPOs. Bally's first Chicago round went well, and it could be a model for further deals in the Empire State.