State regulators dealt their first card to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Chicago casino plan on Thursday, issuing early approvals to the landlord of her proposed temporary gambling site in River North, where city officials are ambitiously hoping the first bets will be taken by summertime.
The Illinois Gaming Board unanimously approved initial supplier licenses for the politically connected owner of the historic Medinah Temple at 600 N. Wabash Ave., which is slated to serve as Bally’s temporary casino for at least two years while the Rhode Island company builds its permanent structure at Chicago Avenue and Halsted Street in River West.
