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Bally’s pitch to investors in its Chicago casino also comes with an unusual warning: “Our business and our assets are planned to be primarily located in Chicago, Illinois, a city which has recently experienced very high levels of criminality and civil unrest. Heightened criminality or the perception of danger among our customers, and events of civil unrest, at or in the vicinity of any of the facilities that we operate and intend to operate, including our temporary casino and our permanent resort and casino, could result in a decline in customer traffic and spending patterns, which would result in a decline in revenue.”
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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If anyone is well versed in financial risk vs. reward, it’s a casino company.
Crain’s use to be a credible publication before it turned leftist like so many others in Chicago and National. That they would actually publish such truth here is surprising.
I do think they’ve gotten more balanced lately.
Wow, that’s surprising. Crime-ridden neighborhoods could deter businesses from moving in.
Chicago bond offering documents should have something similar, like “We lack the resources to adequately police the city.”
“Invest at your own risk. Not responsible for lost or stolen articles or lost lives.”