West Town

How to play West Town

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.

How to play West Town

It marks Spotlight’s first expansion into gaming, combining the company’s global product and content distribution with Engage Games’ platform and track record in free-to-play and pay-to-play games.

Spotlight said the decision to enter the gaming sphere comes as operators increasingly turn towards free-to-play games as a means of “engagement, retention, reactivation and acquisition”.

The games will include fantasy, predictor, survivor and bet builder mechanics, while racing titles will be powered by Spotlight’s Smart View Engine.

What is West Town?

A bevy of participating athletes took to social media this week to share their thoughts on the campaign. An X post from Leguizamo, a longtime comedian, encapsulated the fast-paced nature of prediction markets.

“It’s live trading, you gotta stay on your toes,” he wrote, repeating his line from the commercial.

Meanwhile, on a post that received 1.2 million views, Manning joked: “Might have to put the pads back on.” It prompted Sherman to retort, “now let’s try this on the field”, in reference to the prediction market app.