Bally's Lands $560m From WhiteHawk for the Bronx After a Going-Concern Warning

A $400m term loan and a $160m delayed draw fund pre-construction on the $4bn Ferry Point project and give the group liquidity, from the private credit firm that also refinanced The Star in June.

• Bally's Corporation announced on 14 September new financing led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners: $400 million in closing-date term loan commitments and $160 million in delayed-draw term loan commitments
• Proceeds will fund pre-construction costs for the Bally's Bronx project in New York, with a portion available for general corporate purposes; closing is expected in the third quarter subject to regulatory approval
• Chairman Soo Kim said the money lets Bally's "progress the pre-construction planning process" and "complete the remainder of the capital raise"; WhiteHawk's Bob Louzan called it flexible capital for a complex transaction
• The deal comes weeks after Bally's flagged substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern in an SEC filing, according to Casino.org, and ten days after its chief financial officer left with immediate effect
• WhiteHawk extended $390 million of senior secured financing in June to The Star Entertainment Group, the Australian casino operator Bally's now controls

The Bronx Project Gets Its First Slice of Capital

Bally's has secured the first tranche of financing for the most expensive project in its history, and it has come from a private credit lender rather than the banks and bond markets that funded its earlier expansion.

The company said on 14 September that it had secured new financing led by WhiteHawk Capital Partners, LP to fund further development of the Bally's Bronx project and for general corporate purposes. The facilities comprise closing-date term loan commitments of $400 million and delayed-draw term loan commitments of $160 million. Proceeds will fund certain pre-construction costs and expenditures associated with the Bronx development, with a portion available to the company for general corporate purposes. The financing is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Citizens Capital Markets advised Bally's and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson acted as legal adviser.

"This important financing allows us to progress the pre-construction planning process so that we are ready to complete the remainder of the capital raise and remain on schedule," said Bally's chairman Soo Kim. "Furthermore, the additional liquidity provides us greater flexibility for other capital opportunities." Bob Louzan, managing partner at WhiteHawk, said the financing "reflects our ability to structure flexible capital solutions for complex transactions and will support the project's pre-construction work as Bally's advances its broader financing plan".

Bally's holds a licence to build a full-scale casino resort at the former Trump Golf Links at Ferry Point in the Bronx, one of the downstate New York awards, with a project cost Casino.org puts at about $4 billion. The company also has an integrated resort under construction in Chicago, where Kim told analysts on a call the same day that work at the permanent site is continuing, and rights to developable land at the former Tropicana site in Las Vegas.

A Lender Bally's Already Knows

The announcement follows a difficult month. Casino.org reports that Bally's raised substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission several weeks ago, and on 4 September its chief financial officer left with immediate effect, five days before a Chicago council meeting at which the company was pressed to honour its full casino build pledge. WhiteHawk, a Los Angeles-based private credit manager that makes asset-based senior secured loans to middle-market companies, extended $390 million in senior secured financing in June to The Star Entertainment Group, the Australian operator Bally's acquired, according to Casino.org.

Private Credit Is Now Funding Bally's Marquee Project, and the Terms Will Tell

The significance of this deal is less the amount, which is a fraction of the Bronx budget, than the lender. WhiteHawk is a specialist in asset-based, senior secured lending to companies that conventional markets have become cautious about, and its arrival as lead lender on Bally's flagship, so soon after a going-concern warning and a CFO departure, says what the bond market thinks of the credit. The announcement gives no pricing, and the delayed-draw structure, which lets Bally's borrow the second $160 million later, is the kind of feature that comes with covenants and fees. What the company has bought is time: enough to keep the Bronx on schedule through pre-construction, to complete the "remainder of the capital raise" Kim refers to, and to hold the Chicago build together. The full New York project will need many multiples of this facility, and the market will now want to know who funds the rest and on what terms.

One Lender, Two Rescues, One Group

WhiteHawk's June loan to The Star and its September loan to Bally's are, in substance, two facilities to the same enlarged group within three months. That is a sign of a lender that has done its diligence on Bally's and is prepared to grow with it, and also of a borrower with a shrinking list of alternatives. Bally's has assembled an unusual portfolio, from regional US casinos to Intralot, William Hill and 888 in Europe, The Star in Australia and two of the largest greenfield casino projects in America, and its balance sheet is carrying all of it at once. The Bronx financing removes the immediate question of whether the project stalls. It does not answer the one investors asked when the going-concern language appeared, which is whether the group can fund everything it has promised. That answer will come when the rest of the Bronx capital is raised, or is not.

Bally's has the money to keep planning the Bronx. The next announcement needs to be the money to build it.