A new casino planned to open in the heart of the city of Agoikagos is being charged with violating US civil rights laws suspected of preventing white men from investing in the project – an action that has sparked a lawsuit.
Bally’s Chicago is a $ 1.7 billion casino and the planned resort to open in the Windy West neighborhood in 2026. The wide complex is projected to be the largest Illinois casino, boasting a 500 -room hotel with a bar in roof, a riverwalk, thousands of slot cars and a theater of 3,000 seats. Bally will be the first city casino; Her offer was elected by then President Lori Lightfoot in 2022.
As part of the host community agreement signed with the city of Agoikagos, a casino engaged to 25% of minorities. HCA was drafted in accordance with a 2019 state law by expanding gambling in Illinois. Currently, to participate in the initial public bid of the $ 250 million casino, you must meet its “Class A Qualification Criteria”, part of which it is said that an investor must be a “minority or woman”.
A minority is defined as “African-Americans, American Indians, Asian-Americans, Hispanics” and other groups regarded by the city as “unfavorable social” including Arab Arabs, according to the Municipal Code of Agoikagos.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Freedom is suing Bally casinos and members of the Illinois Game Commission for what they claim to be racial discrimination. Will will represent two potential investors who say they denied the ability to participate in the project because of their race-Richard Fisher and Phillip Aronoffs who are part of the US Alliance for Equal Rights, which is Also a plaintiff in case
The lawsuit alleges that Bally’s is in violation of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, the first act where Klux Klan and the years of the Supreme Court’s precedent preventing white men from buying shares in their company. The lawsuit also claims that Bally’s is preventing shareholders from transferring shares to people who do not meet the “Class A” criteria.
“Making a contract is essential for citizenship rights. What Bally’s is doing here is absolutely illegal and has been for decades and decades, ”Dan Lennington of the Institute of Law and Freedom Wisconsin for the Fox News Digital said.
Agoikagos lawyer Patrick Callahan is not a party to the lawsuit, but he told Fox News Digital that he was unable to invest in the project because he is a white man.
“It is so discriminatory, I can’t imagine how it can be permissible,” Callahan said.
Callahan, 39, said he first heard of a casino from a realtor he follows on Instagram. He thought it was an exciting investment opportunity and tried to buy shares in the project. After completing his personal information on the Bally Investment Portal, he was asked if he met the “Class A” criteria. When Callahan entered that he did not, because of his race and gender, he said the portal stated that he could not continue with his investment.
“This offer is only available for units that meet Class A qualification criteria in accordance with the host community agreement with the city of Agoikagos,” the Portal in the Red Text displayed.
“I assumed it was more a guide than a difficult rule … this may not really be … But of course this is exclusively available for women and certain minorities,” told Callahan Fox News Digital .
Callahan said the alleged racial discrimination was far from shocking, given how the city was headed under Chicago President Brandon Johnson, but he was still alarmed.
“It didn’t surprise me as it was a startling kind because it was just as unclear … Chicago is a mess, so it doesn’t surprise me,” he said.
Will’s lawsuit can lead to legal consequences for Bally’s who can even put his license in danger, Lennington said.
Bally’s SEC registration stated that the conditions they agreed on in the HCA could leave them vulnerable to lawsuits by people who do not meet the “Class A” criteria, which would undergo “considerable cost” from the casino and ” can adversely affect our ability to operate our casinos and may adversely affect our business, financial status and operations, “whether HCA is found invalid or unconstitutional.
“IPO of Bally’s Chicago matches our obligations under the host community agreement with the city of Agoikagos,” a spokesman for a Bally Fox News Digital in a statement told.
The Chicago Chairman’s office and the Illinois Game Commission did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request to comment.
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