Share 
Bally’s Corporation is replacing its chief financial officer, less than a month after warning that mounting debt and liquidity pressures could threaten its ability to continue operating.
Mira Mircheva is stepping down as executive vice president and CFO after just over a year in the role. She notified the company on Aug. 30 of her intent to resign, effective Sept. 4, and will remain through Sept. 30 to help close the quarter and support the transition. Bally’s said the departure is for personal reasons and is not linked to any disagreement over the company’s operations, policies or practices.
President George Papanier is taking over as interim CFO while the board searches for a permanent replacement. He will continue serving as both president and a board member during the transition.
A familiar executive returns to the finance office
A certified public accountant, Papanier has more than 40 years of experience in the gaming industry. He joined Bally’s Casino as chief operating officer in 2004 before serving as president and chief executive from 2011 to 2021. Since then, he has led the company’s land-based casino operations and also served as interim CFO in 2023.
CEO Robeson Reeves thanked Mircheva for her contributions and said Papanier’s tenure positions him well to lead the finance function during the search.
“Having spent more than two decades in key operating and financial leadership roles at Bally’s, George has been instrumental in developing our business model, asset portfolio and growth strategy,” Reeves said. “He steps into the interim role supported by an experienced finance organization, and I am confident that our reporting, controls and capital markets work will continue without disruption.”
Mircheva joined Bally’s as CFO following the company’s February 2025 merger with Queen Casino & Entertainment, where she had served as finance chief since 2023. Before that, she spent more than eight years as a partner at Standard General, the hedge fund that controls roughly two-thirds of Bally’s publicly traded shares.
Bally’s debt terms and a going-concern warning
Mircheva’s exit comes weeks after Bally’s disclosed significant financial risk in its second-quarter earnings report. In an Aug. 14 filing, the company said conditions raise “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” warning it could fail to meet liquidity requirements and debt-covenant tests tied to its revolving credit facility over the next 12 months.
Bally’s said it is weighing options to strengthen its balance sheet, including asset sales, an equity offering and additional debt financing, though those plans remain unfinished and depend on market conditions and third-party participation. The company posted a second-quarter net loss of $163.9 million, narrower than the $228.4 million loss a year earlier. Long-term debt stood at nearly $4.5 billion as of June 30.
Chicago casino dispute escalates at council hearing
Bally’s financial strain has collided with an unresolved fight over its $1.7 billion Chicago casino at the former Tribune printing plant site in River West. On Aug. 8, Bally’s Chicago issued a reset notice to the Chicago Community Builders Collective, pausing construction on roughly 12% of the project — including the planned hotel, events center and several restaurants — and laying off 136 workers.
Bally’s argues that Chicago’s 2026 budget, which lifted a long-standing ban on video gambling terminals in bars, restaurants and other venues, violates its host community agreement by opening the door to gambling competition the city had committed to restrict. City officials counter that halting construction itself breaches that same agreement.
The dispute spilled into public view on Sept. 9, when Bally’s executives Chris Jewett and Kim Barker appeared before the City Council’s Committee on License and Consumer Protection. The more than three-hour hearing was described by aldermen as an “absolute circus,” with council members sparring over the company’s finances, the legality of the construction pause and the administration’s handling of the standoff, according to WTTW News and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Bally’s told the committee it has the financing to complete the project and made its $4 million annual host-community payment on Sept. 8 as a sign of good faith, even as it maintained the construction slowdown was a “reset,” not a violation of the agreement. The Illinois Gaming Board has approved 65 video gambling terminal applications for the city, though none have been installed.
Bally’s continues to target an early 2027 opening for the casino floor. Separately, a state budget bill passed in June already resolved a related deadline: Bally’s temporary casino license at the Medinah Temple, which would otherwise have expired Sept. 9, was extended through September 2027, giving the company additional runway while the permanent site is completed.
A former contractor, MGM Excavating, has also filed a mechanics lien in Cook County seeking $3.8 million for work completed at the site.
Bally’s said Mircheva was never expected to attend the Sept. 9 hearing. The board has begun its search for a permanent CFO while Papanier oversees finance operations on an interim basis. For now, the company is working to shore up liquidity, resolve its standoff with Chicago, and reassure lenders and investors.
