As the battle between Bally’s and the city heats up over the advent of video gaming terminals, the casino company has enlisted an unlikely ally — former Mayor Lori Lightfoot — whose administration chose the Rhode Island-based company to build Chicago’s first casino.

Bally’s has hired Lightfoot’s law firm, RKF Global, to navigate the VGT dispute, which the casino company says would violate its contract with the city and potentially void an annual $4 million payment requirement to Chicago as part of that host agreement.

“We are pleased to have built an excellent and knowledgeable team here in Chicago,” Bally’s said in a statement Monday. “As we ramp up our efforts to protect our investment in the city, we have also brought on the strategic counsel of RKF Global PLLC, where former Mayor Lightfoot is a partner.”

Through a spokesperson, Lightfoot deferred comment to Bally’s. RKF Global did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening.

The politically complicated situation has raised a few eyebrows — and ethical concerns — among some aldermen who passed the legislation allowing VGTs over the objections of Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Chicago’s ethics ordinance prohibits former officials who managed a contract to represent that vendor after leaving City Hall. That ban lasts for the duration of the agreement, which Lightfoot authorized for Bally’s in 2022 and is now at the center of another political fight under Johnson.

Johnson’s press secretary did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

The legalization of video gambling terminals has been a major sticking point between Johnson and the aldermanic opposition that passed this year’s budget over his objections, with the package relying on revenue from the new machines to plug in $6.8 million. Executives at Bally’s, fearing that will bleed into their profits, have saber rattled that they will view it as violation of their contract if the advent of VGTs is not halted.

In a June 17 letter to City Council, Christopher Jewett, senior vice president of corporate development for Bally’s, said absent “urgent action,” the casino company will have “no choice but to pursue all available legal remedies” to address the decision to approve VGTs in Chicago.

Lightfoot, who recently attended the topping-off ceremony at the permanent casino site for Bally’s Chicago, which is going up at the venue of the former Tribune printing plant in River West, certainly played a key role in the project.

In May 2022, Bally’s won a heated competition overseen by the Lightfoot administration, besting four other proposals with its plan to build a $1.7 billion entertainment complex including a 500-room hotel, a 3,000-seat theater, 10 restaurants and 4,000 gaming positions. Bally’s has been operating a smaller temporary casino at Medinah Temple in the River North since 2023.

At the April topping-off ceremony, Lightfoot, who left office in 2023, took credit for the rising casino, perhaps the signature achievement of her administration.

“It’s not like birthing a child, but it’s pretty damn close,” she told the Tribune.

Whether Lightfoot or her law firm can represent that casino in potential legal proceedings against the city she once led remains to be seen.

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