(The Center Square) – A federal lawsuit against Bally’s Casino, the city of Chicago and the Illinois Gaming Board has been dropped after Bally’s agreed to revise its initial public offering to potential investors.
The case was closed after Bally’s agreed to restructure its IPO to no longer require purchasers to be a woman or minority.
Liberty Justice Center senior counsel Reilly Stephens said this was one of the most blatant pieces of discrimination he’s seen in his career.
“Bally’s did this because this was a requirement that was put in the agreement by the city of Chicago, which gives us our constitutional hook to say this is a government policy, essentially, that Bally’s is partnering in,” Stephens told The Center Square.
Stephens said Illinois state law played a role in Bally’s discriminatory policy.
“There can be one casino license for the city of Chicago in that Illinois statute, it says, and part of the deal has to be that you have to try and achieve 25% minority ownership,” Stephens said.
The Liberty Justice Center filed suit in U.S. District Court on behalf of Illinois resident and would-be investor Mark Glennon, arguing that the city’s requirements violated the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and federal anti-discrimination laws.
The lawsuit named Bally’s Chicago Operating Company, the city of Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson and city treasurer Melissa Conyears-Irvin.
Stephens explained why Illinois Gaming Board members were also included in the lawsuit.
“We named them because the requirement for minority ownership originates in this Illinois statute. They probably, if you called them, would say, ‘Well that’s just aspirational. It’s really Chicago and Bally’s fault that they did it in this way,’ rather than some other, less unconstitutional way. We added them just to make it clear that this is a policy that comes down from the state. It’s not just Bally’s. The state of Illinois was also involved in this, had their fingerprints on it, which means the program really needs to pass constitutional muster and it did not,” Stephens said.
The Illinois Gaming Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case.
Stephens said it was a win for equal opportunity that Bally’s dropped its quotas.
Stephens said the case was closed late last week after Bally’s restructured its IPO to give preference to Chicago and Illinois residents, but without explicit reference to race or gender.
