Tiki Tumble

What is Tiki Tumble?

The VGT dispute and construction reset are the latest chapters in a long and bumpy road for Bally’s since winning Chicago’s sole casino licence in 2022. Work has been halted for debris overflow and for unapproved contractors, and the company faced an $800 million funding gap that was eventually filled through a financing agreement with Gaming and Leisure Properties. Potential interference with city water lines also necessitated a significant redesign of the hotel plan.

At one point, the IGB ordered a temporary work stoppage at Bally’s permanent casino following reports of alleged ties between an unapproved dumpster service with organised crime.

Bally’s has been granted two years’ worth of extensions for the permanent project. State law allows for two-year temporary licences, but the Illinois Gaming Board approved an extension to three years in 2023. That pushed the deadline to this September, but Bally’s ultimately received another year’s worth of extensions through language included in the state’s omnibus revenue bill that was passed in June.

What is Tiki Tumble?

All submissions must also now include an exit plan – a new obligation that applies across the board. This requirement, intended to ensure orderly market withdrawal, marked a move toward embedding long-term risk management into the licensing process.

It requires operators to describe in detail how they will responsibly wind down their operations should their licence not be renewed or be revoked. Or if they decide to leave the market midway through the five years between renewals.

The regulator noted that several operators received “additional points for attention”, indicating that while these applicants met minimum legal thresholds, the KSA expected continuous improvements in compliance practices.

What is Tiki Tumble?

When I joined CalvinAyre.com in August of 2009, there was an enormous gap in the industry for an honest, transparent news site with regular, fresh video content. Over time, we grew from a tiny team of a handful of people to dozens, providing the industry with the juiciest breaking news and cutting-edge video coverage. 

Today we pass on the torch to our event organizing and media production friends who have more recently developed outstanding news coverage and video teams dedicated to the gaming space, hopefully who I’ll be seeing at CoinGeek Conferences in the future.

Reflecting on my fateful words at EiG back in 2013, it was the entrepreneurial energy, the innovation and the excitement surrounding Bitcoin that originally drew me to it. Back then, the obsession about Bitcoin was not related to price, it was about the disruptive technology and this is what meant something to me. While a great deal has changed in Bitcoin between 2013 and now, the energy, innovation and excitement are all still there and I am looking forward to the next chapter of my career with Calvin Ayre and the Ayre Media team.