Bally Gaming Inc history

The death of Roy Moloney in 1957 rocked the company.

When the founder of Bally Manufacturing died in 1958 his two sons took over.

Lion sold the coffee machine business to Seeburg, a Chicago-based company, and the United States' largest jukebox manufacturer, in 1960.

After six years of confusion, Lion sales and marketing manager William T. O'Donnell took charge and attracted a group of investors to buy the company in 1963.

One year later, in 1964, the company made a big leap in the slot machine industry making what they said was the first of its kind.

After more than 30 years in business, Lion incorporated as Bally Manufacturing in March 1968.

The parent company formally changed its name from Lion to Bally Manufacturing and went public in March 1969, raising capital and furthering its expansion ambitions.

Richard Gillman, a former investment banker who joined Bally in 1970, was named chairman of Park Place.

Mullane, who had experience in the securities and vending-machine businesses, had joined Bally in 1971.

In 1974 Bally acquired all of the shares of American Amusements, Incorporated, a chain of shopping-mall game arcades.

In 1975 the Bally Distributing Company was purchased for $9.5 million in cash and stock.

When Atlantic City, New Jersey, legalized gambling in 1976, Bally CEO O’Donnell was among the first to seize the opportunity.

In 1977 Chairman O'Donnell initiated Bally's diversification into casino hotels.

Plans for Bally's Park Place were launched just in time for the 1978 New Jersey state decision to begin licensing casino operators.

In May 1979 Xcor International's Williams Electronics, a competing producer of slot machines, filed suit against Bally.

According to an article in The Wall Street Journal of August 13, 1980, New Jersey legislation required that key executives and any persons holding substantial stocks in a casino corporation be "investigated and found qualified to hold a casino license before the company can be licensed."

Hoping to compete with restaurant gaming meccas like ShowBiz Pizza Place, Bally announced in August 1981 that it was buying Barnaby’s Family Inns, a Chicago-based pizza chain, for about $3.6 million in Bally’s stock.

Pac-Man, introduced in 1982, became the most popular coin-operated game ever.

In 1983, Bally's amusement game revenue plunged 60%; but the company did not sink with the falling market demand.

In 1984 Bally purchased Lifecycle, Incorporated, from Augustine Nieto Jr.

In what Fortune of December 23, 1985, aptly called the "Atlantic City Reshuffle," high-rolling licensees began to buy one another out.

In 1988 Bally had to sell their Six Flags chain and gave up their pinball sector.

In 1989 the Aladdin's Castle arcade chain was sold.

When Illinois enacted the Riverboat Gambling Act in 1990, Chicago began planning to build its own casino/entertainment complex, a quest that would take 30 years to get off the ground.

Bally sold the Reno casino to Hilton Hotels Corp. in June 1992 for $83 million as it worked to restructure the Bally’s Grand debt, retaining the Las Vegas casino.

The chain was also struggling with image problems after agreeing to pay refunds to thousands of current and former members to settle a 1994 Federal Trade Commission lawsuit alleging deceptive billing, cancellation and refund practices.

With plans to focus on its casino business, the renamed Bally Entertainment Corp. announced the spinoff of its money-losing health club chain in September 1995.

The fitness chain completed the spinoff in January 1996, rebranding as Bally Total Fitness, but the losses continued to pile up for the stand-alone, publicly traded company.

By 1999 WMS industries, which was the parent company of Williams, had cut their pinball production.

Goldberg, who became CEO of the merged casino company, died in 2000, but the Bally brand would live on for a few more years at the struggling Chicago-based fitness chain.

When Bally wrapped up its internal investigation in February 2005, it blamed former CEO Lee Hillman and former CFO John Dwyer for fostering a “culture of aggressive accounting.” The company also accused its former auditor, Ernst & Young, of committing accounting errors and not giving good advice.

Struggling with declining memberships and too much debt, Bally Total Fitness, the nation’s largest health club operator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on July 31, 2007.

In December 2008, during the depths of the Great Recession, Bally declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time in 16 months, citing long-term debt, declining revenue and a lack of refinancing options.

Bally Total Fitness reached a deal to emerge from bankruptcy in June 2009 through funding from JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and other investment firms, which helped reduce the Chicago-based company’s debt by $660 million.

In November 2011, Bally Total Fitness sold 171 health clubs — including all of its 27 Illinois locations — to the LA Fitness gym chain in a deal valued at $153 million.

Bally's Atlantic City in May 2015. (Wayne Parry / AP)

A Bugs Bunny costumed character performs during a dance routine Thursday, May 26, 2016 at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)

The Golden Nugget casino in Atlantic City N.J. in 2019. (Wayne Parry/AP)

The Bally’s name was purchased in 2020 by a publicly traded Rhode Island company, which owns and manages 14 casinos across 10 states.

The rebranded Bally’s is also staking turf in Las Vegas after agreeing to buy the Tropicana for $150 million in 2021.