- For the fitness chain, see Bally Total Fitness.
Bally Manufacturing , later renamed Bally Entertainment , is an American company that started out as a manufacturer of pinball and slot machines, and later developed into a casino, video game, health club, and theme park. It was acquired by the Hilton Hotel in 1995. Its brand name is still used by some businesses previously linked to Bally Manufacturing, notably Bally Technologies.
Video Bally Manufacturing
History
The Bally Manufacturing Corporation was founded by Raymond Moloney on January 10, 1932, when Bally's original parent, Lion Manufacturing, founded the company to make pinball games. The company took its name from its first game, Bally hoo. The Chicago-based company, quickly became a leading game maker. In the late 1930s, Moloney started making gambling equipment, and had great success developing and improving the mechanical slot machines that became the core of the newborn game industry. After producing ammunition and spacecraft parts during World War II, Bally Manufacturing Corporation continued to produce innovations in pinball machines, bingo machines, payment machines, and console slot machines until the late 1950s. They also design and manufacture vending machines and set up a vending service. The company made a brief effort into the music business with their own record label, Bally Records.
Ray Moloney died in 1958, and the company slipped for a while. With the financial failings of its parent company, Bally was bought by a group of investors in 1963. Throughout the 1960s, Bally continued to dominate the slot machine industry, cornering more than 90% of the world market by the end of the decade. In 1964, Bally introduced the first electromechanical slot machine, called "Honey Money." In the late 1960s, Bally became a public company and made several acquisitions, including the German company Guenter Wulff-Apparatebau (renamed Bally Wulff) and Midway Manufacturing, an entertainment game company from Schiller Park, Illinois.
The 1970s
In the late 1970s, Bally entered the casino business when New Jersey legalized gambling in Atlantic City. This effort is moving forward even though the company is temporarily unable to obtain a permanent license for a completed casino. During this period, company chairman William T. O'Donnell was forced to resign for alleged links to organized crime. Prior to this, Mr O'Donnell had strongly rejected such links. For example, when questioned at the Moffitt Royal Commission - an investigation held in New South Wales, Australia - about alleged criminal activity with US and Australian criminals, he admits that the Genovese Mafia boss Jerry Catena (Gerardo Catena) after having a stake in the business, "but I bought it." He also denied knowing the Chicago mafia, Joseph Dan Testa, although Australian Police described Testa "as a Bally representative who visits Australia."
The company opened Park Place Casino & amp; Hotel on December 29, 1979. Also in the late 1970s, Bally entered the growing market for home computer games. The Bally Professional Arcade, as it was called, had sophisticated features for the time being. It includes a 256 color palette and the ability to play 4-voice music. The machine is also shipped with cartridges that allow users to perform a limited number of programming on the machine itself (using BASIC language), and record their creations on the cassette. The price point of the machine is above the Atari 2600 (main competitor), and has a much more limited set of games. Despite loyal followers, it fails to compete successfully. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Midway became a major source of revenue for Bally for being the earliest arcade video game maker and licensed for three of the most popular video games of all time: Space Invaders, Pac-Man, and Ms. Pac-Man.
The 1980s
In the mid-1980s, the company again had a strong balance sheet and started buying other businesses including the Six Flags amusement park chain in 1983, and Health and Tennis Corporation of America. The health club division, under "Bally Total Fitness", grew during the 1980s and 1990s. The company also purchased several casinos, including MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip (later renamed as Bally's Las Vegas), The MGM Grand Reno (Reno, NV) and Golden Nugget Atlantic City branded Bally's Grand and then " The Grand-A Bally's Casino Resort ". This expansion quickly weighed on the company's finances, and Bally was soon forced to sell several divisions, including Six Flags and Bally-Midway. The pinball division, along with Midway, was acquired by Williams Electronics in 1988.
The 1990s
Under new management in 1992, the newly named Bally Entertainment Corporation focused on the health club business and separated the company's game-making parts. The Aladin Castle chain of arcade games was sold to Namco in 1993, and renamed Namco Cybertainment, Inc. In 1993 the core manufacturing division was a leader in fitness equipment including Life Fitness brands including Life Cycle, Life Step and Life Rower Machine. The success was short and Life Fitness was sold to Brunswick Corporation.
In 1995, they opened Bally's Casino Tunica in Tunica, Mississippi.
In May 1995, Bally Entertainment announced the Paris Las Vegas project at a shareholder meeting. Paris is designed by architectural firm Leidenfrost/Horowitz & amp; Assoc., Bergman, Walls & amp; Assoc. and MBH Architects. The project design architect is Bergman Walls Associates. Herbert Horowitz, Partner Leidenfrost/Horowitz & amp; Assoc. is the executive architect and signed all the plans. Bally broke ground for Paris Las Vegas on April 18, 1997, and construction began in May at 24 acres (9.7 ha) on the Las Vegas Strip. It was completed in May 1997 with an estimated cost of $ 760 million.
In 1995, Bally Entertainment was bought by Hilton Hotels Corporation. Then the Hilton Hotel casino resort division became Park Place Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment) and in 2005 was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment.
Maps Bally Manufacturing
Name
Many casinos and businesses around the world are using the Bally name and logo in the labyrinth of ownership, spinoff division and license agreement. Midway continued to use Bally's name for pinball games, until WMS Industries (parent company Williams) halted pinball production in 1999. On March 31, 2005, WMS Industries reached an agreement with Australian company The Pinball Factory to grant them a license for intellectual property and the right to re-producing Bally/Williams games in the field of mechanical pinball. In addition, The Pinball Factory has also bought the rights to produce new games using the company's new hardware system under the Bally brand. Alliance Gaming, which bought Bally Gaming International in 1995, changed its name to Bally Technologies. Total Bally Fitness and Bally France distributors still use the same 'Bally' logo even though the formal business relationship, as of June 2007, is a coincidence. The name is most famous for being in the song, "Pinball Wizard" on rock opera Tommy and its soundtrack.
Pinball machine using the Bally brand
Select Machines Developed by Bally or Bally-Midway
Developed by Midway
Developed by The Pinball Factory
The Crocodile Hunter Outback Adventure based on the wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter is being developed by Australian pinball manufacturer The Pinball Factory under license from Bally. It was abandoned in late 2007 due to the death of the main character of the game, Steve Irwin and never went into production.
Slot machine
Casino
- Bally's Park Place
- Bally's Las Vegas
- Bally's Grand
- Bally's New Orleans
- Bally's Reno
- Bally Casino Tunica
- Paris Las Vegas
References
- Galecki, Irek (2006), Slot Machine History , Online Casinos Press , retrieved 2007- 06-25 Wilson, Mark R. (2005), "Bally Manufacturing Corp.", Chicago Encyclopedia, Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Historical Society < span>, retrieved 2007-06-27 Lawlor, Pat (1992), "The Addams Family", Pinball Hall of Fame , Internet Pinball Database , retrieved
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments