Bally Manufacturing, which later became known as Bally Entertainment, was an American company that originally made pinball machines and slot machines. Over time, the company grew into other areas, including casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. In 1996, the company was purchased by Hilton Hotels.
The name "Bally" and its logo from the middle of the 20th century are still used by several businesses that have the legal rights to do so. These include the slot machine maker Bally Technologies and the casino operator Bally's Corporation.
History
The Bally Manufacturing Corporation was started by Raymond Moloney on January 10, 1932. The company was created by Lion Manufacturing to make pinball games. The name "Bally" came from the company's first game, called "Ballyhoo." Based in Chicago, Bally quickly became a major maker of pinball machines. In the late 1930s, Moloney began making gambling equipment and improved mechanical slot machines, which were important in the early gaming industry. During World War II, the company made weapons and airplane parts. After the war, Bally continued to create new types of pinball machines, bingo machines, payout machines, and console slot machines until the late 1950s. The company also made vending machines and started a coffee vending service. It briefly entered the music industry with a record label called Bally Records.
Raymond Moloney died in 1958, and the company struggled for a short time. The parent company faced financial problems, and Bally was bought by a group of investors in 1963. In the 1960s, Bally remained a leader in the slot machine industry, controlling more than 90 percent of the global market by the end of the decade. In 1964, Bally introduced the first electromechanical slot machine called "Money Honey." Around 1968, Bally bought the Lenc-Smith company, which made pinball and arcade cabinets until 1988. The company became publicly traded and acquired Midway Manufacturing in 1969, an amusement game company from Illinois.
In 1974, Bally expanded internationally by buying a German company called Guenter Wulff-Apparatebau, which was later renamed Bally Wulff. In the late 1970s, Bally entered the casino business after gambling was legalized in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Despite challenges, including a temporary inability to get a permanent license for a casino, the company opened the Park Place Casino & Hotel on December 29, 1979. During this time, William T. O'Donnell, the company's leader, resigned due to allegations of ties to organized crime, which he denied. He admitted that a mob boss once owned shares in Bally but claimed to have bought them out. He also denied knowing a Chicago mobster, even though police described the man as a Bally representative in Australia.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Midway was renamed Bally/Midway when it was combined with Bally's pinball business. This became a major source of income for Bally as it made early arcade video games, including licenses for "Space Invaders," "Pac-Man," and "Ms. Pac-Man." Bally/Midway also entered the home video game market with the Bally Professional Arcade, which had advanced features like 256 colors and music. However, it was more expensive than its main competitor, the Atari 2600, and had fewer games, leading to limited success.
By the mid-1980s, Bally had strong financial resources and began buying other businesses. These included the Six Flags amusement park chain in 1982, the Health and Tennis Corporation of America (later Bally Total Fitness) in 1983, and Scientific Games, a lottery company, in 1986. That year, Bally also purchased several casinos, including the original MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (later rebranded Bally's Las Vegas and now the Horseshoe Las Vegas), the MGM Grand in Reno (now Grand Sierra Resort), and the Golden Nugget Atlantic City (later Bally's Grand and now the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel). However, this rapid expansion hurt the company's finances, leading to the sale of some divisions, such as Six Flags in 1987, Bally/Midway in 1988, and Aladdin's Castle in 1989.
In 1990, Bally was managed by new leadership, including Arthur Goldberg, who started a restructuring process. To pay debts, the German company Bally Wulff was made independent in 1991. Scientific Games, Life Fitness (an exercise equipment company), and the Reno casino were sold in 1993. The slot machine division became Bally Gaming International, ending the company's manufacturing operations.
In 1993, Bally opened a riverboat casino called Bally's Saloon & Gambling Hall in Mississippi. It later moved to Robinsonville and became part of a joint venture with Lady Luck Gaming. In 1994, the company changed its name to Bally Entertainment to focus on casinos and stop manufacturing. The health club business, Bally Total Fitness, was spun off to shareholders in 1996.
In June 1996, Bally Entertainment was bought by Hilton Hotels Corporation for $3 billion. Two years later, Hilton's casino division was split off as Park Place Entertainment, named after Bally's Atlantic City location. In 1999, Park Place bought Caesars World, and in 2003, it changed its name to Caesars Entertainment. It was later acquired by Harrah's Entertainment in 2005, which became Caesars Entertainment Corp in 2010. In 2020, Caesars Entertainment was bought by Eldorado Resorts, forming the current Caesars Entertainment.
Legacy of the name
Many casinos and businesses around the world have used the Bally name and logo through a complex web of ownership, company splits, and licensing agreements.
Williams acquired the Bally/Midway amusement games unit and continued using the Bally name for pinball games until its parent company, WMS Industries, stopped making pinball machines in 1999. WMS had split off its video game unit as Midway Games the year before. WMS Industries later allowed other companies to use the rights to produce and repair Bally and Williams pinball machines. Since 2014, these rights have belonged to Planetary Pinball Supply.
Alliance Gaming purchased Bally Gaming International in 1996 and changed its name to Bally Technologies in 2006. In 2014, Bally Technologies was bought by Scientific Games, which had also acquired WMS Industries the year before. The company later changed its name to Light & Wonder in 2022 and continues to operate Bally Technologies as a subsidiary that makes video slot machines and other casino equipment.
Bally Total Fitness struggled with debt and falling profits after the Great Recession. In the 2010s, it sold many of its fitness clubs to companies like LA Fitness, Blast Fitness, and 24 Hour Fitness. Other clubs closed, and the last Bally Total Fitness club shut down in October 2016. The Bally Total Fitness name was also used by FAM Brands to market fitness equipment and clothing, which it fully owned after buying the name in 2013.
In October 2020, Caesars sold the rights to use the Bally name for casinos to Twin River Worldwide Holdings. Twin River changed its name to Bally's Corporation and planned to rename most of its properties under the Bally's brand. It also bought Bally's Atlantic City from Caesars. In January 2022, Caesars announced that Bally's Las Vegas, which it kept, would be renamed Horseshoe Las Vegas after renovations.
Bally's Corporation signed a 10-year agreement with Diamond Sports Group to rename the Fox Sports Network regional sports networks as Bally Sports, starting in 2021. The networks stopped using the Bally's name in October 2024 and became FanDuel Sports Network.
Bally Wulff, a former subsidiary, remains a manufacturer of gaming and vending equipment in Germany, with operations in Spain. Bally France, a French distributor of gambling equipment, and Bally Pond, a Japanese arcade distributor, still use the Bally logo but are not connected to any other businesses with the name.