Dark Queen

About Dark Queen

The city council legalised VGTs in its latest budget that took effect in January. Mayor Brandon Johnson opposed the move but was overruled by a council majority. Johnson and his colleagues have fought over the issue all year, which is still largely unresolved.

The mayor has not opined this summer, at least publicly, on if he believes Bally’s will open the casino in the first quarter of 2027. However, Johnson indicated in March that his administration is committed to projects such as Bally’s Chicago that foster economic development, while creating new jobs for numerous neighborhoods across the city.

“We appreciate Bally’s partnership and the thousands of construction workers helping bring Bally’s Chicago Casino to life – a major investment in our city’s future,” Johnson wrote in a social media post on X.

What is Dark Queen?

Referencing an Australian study on direct marketing and its link to gambling harms, Dr Philip Newall, senior lecturer at the University of Bristol noted that “causality was established by getting a random subset of participants to opt-out of receiving direct marketing offers”.

It was found that “this group then self-reported significantly lower expenditure and harms [ … ] over the next two weeks”.  

They recommended banning direct marketing by operators and affiliates except for essential account or safety communications.

What is Dark Queen?

“Wherever there is investment from the operator or the platform in properly investing in the infrastructure needed to maximise the output of the product, we have seen great returns, ROI, on that investment,” Wilson says.

In other words, there is no magic “engagement” button. There are tools, expertise and an operator willing to put both to work.

For existing Splash Tech partners, “different” is not supposed to mean disruption. Maintaining the company’s products, expertise and relationships was a central consideration during the transaction.