Bally’s doubles down on Las Vegas ballpark casino optimism

Bally’s Corp. remains optimistic that a casino-resort will open in conjunction with a major league ballpark at the site of the former Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip.

During Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings call, Robeson Reeves, the company’s chief executive officer, said that the goal is to open at least a portion of a Bally’s casino by the time the Athletics baseball team begins playing in Las Vegas.

“Significant planning efforts are underway, which will put Bally’s in a position to begin our own development efforts concurrently with the A’s stadium construction efforts,” Reeves said. “Given our planning and preparation, our current pursuit is to have initial portions of the casino, hotel and retail offerings ready to go once the A’s begin playing in their new stadium in 2028.”

Reeves’ statement to investors Wednesday reiterates what Bally’s Corp. Chairman Soo Kim told the Review-Journal last month after initial renderings of the proposed project were released. Kim said the plan, as of now, is to build out in phases, with the first phase including a gaming component.

Tropicana Las Vegas was imploded on Oct. 9 to make room for a stadium and resort on the 35-acre site at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.

The Bally’s site plan includes a 90,000-square foot casino with 1,500 slot machines, 75 table games, a poker room and a 12,000-square-foot sports betting space. Hotel towers, which would be built in three phases, would feature more than 3,000 rooms upon completion.

The A’s are planning construction of a $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat baseball stadium on a nine-acre parcel of the former Trop site.

Funding plans for the stadium project have not been finalized. A’s team owner John Fisher and his family are reportedly prepared to put up $1 billion of the total cost, with another $300 million coming in the form of a construction loan commitment from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs. The remainder could be comprised of up to $380 million in public funds.

Wednesday’s earnings call could be among the last made by Rhode Island-based Bally’s Corp. as a publicly-traded company. Earlier this year, Bally’s accepted a $4.6 billion buyout offer from Kim’s privately operated hedge fund Standard General. Pending federal regulatory approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

David Danzis can be contacted at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0378. Follow AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.