Read the whole devlog, twice. Honest version, since you asked.
The best idea in it is the one you skipped past. Chips stop being something you buy and become something you earn by completing challenges. That does more for the "there is no active gameplay" complaint than any new animation, because it turns the betting board from a purchase into a plan. Push it further: make the challenge the unit of content, not a gate you clear once and forget.
The tension you name, idle players wanting the game on a second monitor while your feedback wants hands on the wheel, is not something you balance. It is two different players. The wheel is your identity. Misfortuna is a decision made under a ticking clock. Someone who wants to watch numbers grow on monitor two will resent a timing bar they have to catch, and someone who wants to catch it will resent the dead time between. Pick one and let the other go, or split them into real modes.
The mafia deadline is the actual spine. "Clear your father's debt" only means something if the deadline can be missed and the story notices. If it cannot, the mafia is set dressing and the game is a clicker in a hat.
One devlog note. You tell us there is a hand-drawn noir comic, then say the story is a secret we have to play to see. That is a promise with nothing to hold on to. One panel. One line of dialogue. One face. That sells wishlists better than a paragraph explaining that comics exist.
I do this for a living, so this one is on the house. Good luck with the October update.