Companies That Make Slot Machine Games

WMS entered the reel-spinning slot machine market in 1994, and its products have helped to move the industry trend away from generic mechanical slot machines and toward games that incorporate familiar intellectual properties.

Bally Manufacturing
IndustryInteractive entertainment
FateAcquired by Hilton
FoundedJanuary 10, 1932; 88 years ago
FounderRaymond Moloney
DefunctDecember 18, 1996; 23 years ago
HeadquartersChicago
ProductsPinball
slot machines
later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks

Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotels in 1996. Its brand name is still used by several businesses with some trademark rights, most notably Bally Technologies and Bally's Corporation.

History[edit]

The Bally Manufacturing Corporation was founded by Raymond Moloney on January 10, 1932, when Bally's original parent, Lion Manufacturing, established the company to make pinball games. The company took its name from its first game, Ballyhoo. The company, based in Chicago, quickly became a leading maker of the games. In the late 1930s, Moloney began making gambling equipment, and had great success developing and improving the mechanical slot machines that were the core of the nascent gaming industry. After manufacturing munitions and airplane parts during World War II, Bally Manufacturing Corporation continued to produce innovations in flipperless pinball machines, bingo machines, payout machines and console slot machines through the late 1950s. They also designed and manufactured vending machines and established a coffee vending service. The company made a brief venture into the music business with their own record label, Bally Records.[1]

Moloney died in 1958, and the company floundered briefly. With the financial failure of its parent company, Bally was bought out by a group of investors in 1963. Throughout the 1960s, Bally continued to dominate the slot machine industry, cornering over 90% of the worldwide market by the end of the decade. In 1964, Bally introduced the first electromechanical slot machine in 1963, called the 'Money Honey.', Bally became a publicly traded company and made several acquisitions, including German company Guenter Wulff-Apparatebau (renamed Bally Wulff) and Midway Manufacturing, an amusement game company from Schiller Park, Illinois.

The 1970s[edit]

In the late 1970s, Bally entered the casino business when New Jersey legalized gambling in Atlantic City. This effort moved forward even though the company was temporarily unable to attain a permanent license for the completed casino. During this period, company head William T. O'Donnell was forced to resign because of alleged links to organized crime. Prior to this, O'Donnell strenuously denied any such links.[2] For example, when questioned at the Moffitt Royal Commission (the NSW Clubs Royal Commission) - an investigation held New South Wales, Australia - on alleged criminal activities with US and Australian criminals, he admitted that Genovese Mafia boss, Jerry Catena (Gerardo Catena), once owned shares in the business, 'but I bought him out.'[2] He also denied knowing Chicago mobster, Joseph Dan Testa, even though Australian Police described Testa 'as a representative of Bally who visited Australia.'[2]

The company opened the Park Place Casino & Hotel on December 29, 1979.[3][4] Also in the late 1970s, Bally made an entry into the growing market for home computer games. The Bally Professional Arcade, as the machine was called, had advanced features for the time. These included a palette of 256 colors and the ability to play 4-voice music. The machine also shipped with a cartridge that allowed users to do a limited amount of programming on the machine themselves (using the BASIC language), and record their creations on cassette tape. The machine's price point was above the Atari 2600 (its major competitor), and it had a much more limited set of available games. Despite a loyal following, it failed to compete successfully. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Midway became a primary source of income for Bally as it became an early arcade video game maker and obtained the licenses for three of the most popular video games of all time: Space Invaders, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man.[3]

The 1980s[edit]

By the mid-1980s, the company again had a strong balance sheet and began buying other businesses including the Six Flags amusement park chain in 1983, and the 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 the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip (which was subsequently re-branded as Bally's Las Vegas), The MGM Grand Reno (Reno, Nevada) and the Golden Nugget Atlantic City which was branded Bally's Grand and then later 'The Grand-A Bally's Casino Resort'. This expansion quickly took its toll on the company's finances, and Bally was soon forced to sell off several divisions, including Six Flags and Bally-Midway. The pinball division, along with Midway, was acquired by Williams Electronics in 1988.

The 1990s[edit]

In 1990, Bally came under new management as its largest shareholder, Arthur Goldberg, was appointed chairman and began a restructuring process.[5] By 1993, the company had sold off several divisions and used the proceeds to pay down debts, including the slot machine division (which became Bally Gaming International, an independent company); Scientific Games, a maker of lottery equipment; Bally's Reno; and exercise equipment maker Life Fitness.[6] The Aladdin's Castle chain of video arcades was sold that year to Namco, and was renamed as Namco Cybertainment.

The company opened Bally's Saloon & Gambling Hall, a riverboat casino in Mhoon Landing, Mississippi in December 1993.[7][8] It was moved to Robinsonville in 1995 and became part of a joint venture with Lady Luck Gaming.[9]

In 1994, the company changed its name to Bally Entertainment, to reflect its focus on the casino business and the fact that it no longer had any manufacturing operations.[10][11] It also announced that the health club business would be spun off to shareholders, to further narrow Bally's focus on casinos.[11] The spin-off was completed in January 1996, with Bally Total Fitness becoming a separate company.[12][13]

In May 1995, Bally Entertainment announced plans to develop Paris Las Vegas, a new casino hotel next to Bally's Las Vegas. The project would eventually begin construction in 1997 and open in 1999 at an estimated cost of $760 million.

In June 1996, Bally agreed to be acquired by Hilton Hotels Corporation.[14] The sale was completed on December 18, 1996, with Hilton paying $3 billion ($2 billion in stock plus $1 billion in assumed debt).[15] Later, Hilton's casino division, including the former Bally properties, was spun off as Park Place Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment, Inc.), which was acquired in 2005 by Harrah's Entertainment (later Caesars Entertainment Corp.).

The name[edit]

Many casinos and businesses worldwide took on the Bally name and logo in the maze of ownership, division spin-offs and licensing agreements.

Midway, and—after buying Midway—Williams, continued to use the Bally name for its pinball games, until WMS Industries (the parent company of Williams) ceased pinball production in 1999. On March 31, 2005, WMS Industries struck a deal with Australian company The Pinball Factory to give them a license for the intellectual properties and the rights to re-manufacture former Bally/Williams games in the field of mechanical pinball. In addition, The Pinball Factory also has bought the right to manufacture new games using the company's new hardware system under the Bally brand.

Free Slot Machine Games No Download

Alliance Gaming, which had bought Bally Gaming International in 1995, changed its name to Bally Technologies. Bally Total Fitness, gambling distributor Bally France, and arcade distributor Bally Pond still use the same 'Bally' logo though any formal business relationships, as of June 2007, are coincidental. The rights to use the name for casinos were sold by Caesars in 2020 to Twin River Worldwide Holdings, which then changed its own name to Bally's Corporation and said that it would rename most of its properties under the Bally's brand.[16]

The name is was mentioned in the song, 'Pinball Wizard' in the rock operaTommy and its soundtrack.

Companies That Make Slot Machine Games

Pinball machines using the Bally brand[edit]

Select machines developed by Bally or Bally-Midway[edit]

  • Amigo (1974)
  • Ballyhoo (flipperless) (1932)
  • Bally Baby (slot machine) (1932)
  • Ballyhoo (flippers) (1947)
  • Baby Pac-Man (1982)
  • Blackwater 100 (1988)
  • BMX (1982)
  • Boomerang (1974)
  • Bow and Arrow (1974)
  • Capersville (1967)
  • Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy (1976)
  • Centaur (1981) & Centaur II (1983)
  • Cybernaut (1985)
  • Dixieland (1968)
  • Dogies (1968)
  • Dungeons & Dragons (1987)
  • Eight Ball (1977)
  • Eight Ball Deluxe (1981)
  • Embryon (1981)
  • Evel Knievel (1977)
  • Fathom (1981)
  • Flash Gordon (1981)
  • Fireball (1972)
  • Fireball II (1981)
  • Freedom (1976)
  • Four Million B.C. (1971)
  • Frontier (1980)
  • Future Spa (1979)
  • Gator (1969)
  • Hi-Lo Ace (1973)
  • Hokus Pokus (1975)
  • KISS (1979)
  • Lady Luck (1986)
  • Lost World (1978)
  • Mata Hari (1977)
  • Monte Carlo (1973)
  • Night Rider' (1977)
  • Nip-It (1972)
  • Nitro Ground Shaker (1978)
  • Odds and Evens (1973)
  • On Beam (1968)
  • Mr. & Mrs. Pac-Man (1982)
  • Paragon (1979)
  • Playboy (1978)
  • Power Play (1977)
  • Shoot-A-Line (1962)
  • Sky Divers (1964)
  • Strange Science (1986)
  • Strikes and Spares (1978)
  • The Six Million Dollar Man (1978)
  • Vector (1982)
  • Wizard! (1975)
  • Xenon (1980)

Developed by Midway[edit]

  • The Addams Family (1992)
  • Attack from Mars (1995)
  • Black Rose (1992)
  • Cactus Canyon (1998)
  • The Champion Pub (1998)
  • Cirqus Voltaire (1997)
  • Corvette (1994)
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon (1992)
  • Doctor Who (1992)
  • Dr. Dude and His Excellent Ray (1990)
  • Eight Ball Champ (1985)
  • Gilligans Island (1991)
  • Harley-Davidson (1991)
  • Indianapolis 500 (1995)
  • Judge Dredd (1993)
  • NBA Fastbreak (1997)
  • The Party Zone (1991)
  • Popeye Saves the Earth (1994)
  • Radical! (1990)
  • Revenge from Mars (1999)
  • Safe Cracker (1996)
  • Scared Stiff (1996)
  • The Shadow (1994)
  • Theatre of Magic (1995)
  • Twilight Zone (1993)
  • Who Dunnit (1995)
  • World Cup Soccer (1994)

Developed by The Pinball Factory[edit]

The Crocodile Hunter Outback Adventure based on the wildlife documentary television series The Crocodile Hunter was in development by Australian pinball manufacturer The Pinball Factory under license from Bally. It was abandoned at the end of 2007 due to the death of the main character of the game, Steve Irwin, and never went into production.[17]

Slot machines[edit]

  • Money Honey (1964)
  • Big Top (1982)
  • Jackpot Riot (1993)
  • Blazing 7s (1993)

Casinos[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^'Bally Records'.
  2. ^ abc'Bally chief denies links with mafia'. The Age. 18 September 1973. Retrieved 8 October 2018 – via Google News.
  3. ^ abChristian Marfels; 2007, Bally: The World's Game Maker, 2nd ed., Bally Technologies Inc., Las Vegas ISBN978-1-4243-3207-6
  4. ^'Bally Manufacturing Corp'. Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
  5. ^P.J. Bednarski (November 13, 1990). 'Top exec quits as Bally revamps'. Chicago Sun-Times – via NewsBank.
  6. ^Debra Dowling (December 19, 1993). 'Goldberg whips Bally Gaming into shape'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
  7. ^Laurel Campbell (December 7, 1993). 'Adjacent casinos open in Tunica'. The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN – via NewsBank.
  8. ^'Bally's licensed to open in Tunica'. The Commercial Appeal. Memphis, TN. AP. December 4, 1993 – via NewsBank.
  9. ^Michelle Hillier (December 22, 1995). 'Bally's rolls upriver, reopens casino closer to Memphis crowds'. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Little Rock, AR – via NewsBank.
  10. ^Scott Ritter (March 18, 1994). 'Options help CEO's earnings'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
  11. ^ abDavid Dishneau (May 18, 1994). 'Bally gambling its games will outperform its gyms'. Akron Beacon Journal. AP – via NewsBank.
  12. ^'Bally spin-off final'. Chicago Sun-Times. January 10, 1996 – via NewsBank.
  13. ^Debra Dowling (September 19, 1995). 'Bally Entertainment pushing out its network of push-up centers'. The Star-Ledger. Newark, NJ – via NewsBank.
  14. ^Barry Meier (June 7, 1996). 'Hilton Hotels to buy Bally Entertainment for more than $2 billion'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  15. ^Joe Weinert (December 19, 1996). 'Hilton and Bally close deal'. The Press of Atlantic City – via NewsBank.
  16. ^'Twin River Worldwide Holdings to become Bally's Corporation'. Delaware Business Times. October 29, 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  17. ^'Internet Pinball Machine Database: The Pinball Factory 'The Crocodile Hunter Outback Adventure''. www.ipdb.org.
Slot machine games play free online
  • Galecki, Irek (2006), Slot Machines History, Online Casino Press, archived from the original on September 17, 2012, retrieved 2007-06-25
  • Wilson, Mark R. (2005), 'Bally Manufacturing Corp.', Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois: Chicago Historical Society, retrieved 2007-06-27
  • Lawlor, Pat (1992), 'The Addams Family', Pinball Hall of Fame, Internet Pinball Database, retrieved 2007-06-25
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bally_Manufacturing&oldid=990315602'

A number of different companies, both large and small, are involved in today’s massive gambling industry. There are companies that specialize in developing online casino software, slot machine manufacturers, resort owners and much more. Companies in the casino industry tend to have some of the most interesting histories and back stories. Acquisitions, sales, bankruptcies, and mergers happen at a very high rate. This is due in part to how competitive the industry has become but also because of the nature of gambling which is always developing and changing.

If you look at a picture of Las Vegas from the 1970s and compare it to what it is today, you will start to get a feel for just how dramatic the changes are. As you can imagine, an almost infinite number of companies came and went in this time, and that trend is sure to be repeated for the indefinite future.

Companies That Make Slot Machine Games

Casino Brands

While there are a lot of small casino companies who manage anywhere from one to several properties, there are a handful who dominate the majority of the brick and mortar casinos in the United States and around the world. Most of these brands are household names, including Harrah’s (or Caesars Entertainment as it is now known), Wynn, and MGM.

The average gambler likely does not realize that CET actually owns many of the different casinos on the strip, and not just Caesars and Harrahs. On the same note, MGM also owns Aria and Bellagio.

Boyd Gaming
Caesars Entertainment
MGM Resorts
Penn National Gaming
Sands
Station Casinos
Wynn

When you visit a heavily trafficked gambling city like Las Vegas, you will see a number of casinos over and over again. For example, LV has multiple “Terrible’s” casinos throughout various parts of the city. Even still, some of these smaller and lesser known casinos are quite frequently owned by much larger parent companies.

Online Gaming Companies

Online gaming is quite different from other casino brands. A large number of these companies were founded on the internet, primarily in the early 2000s when online gambling was much less scrutinized and the market in the US was booming. Over time, a lot of these companies either faded away completely, transitioned to non-US only brands, or continued to operate in the United States in a legal gray area. Today, many of the most popular and recognizable online gambling companies are even publicly traded.

The difference between online and B&M casinos today is that online sites started and only operate online where physical casinos have been growing in the opposite way. In states and areas where online gambling has become regulated on a state level, names like CET have started to compete with the old online only companies.

Sports Betting Companies

While many casinos have their own name-brand sportsbooks, there are also some third party companies who make white label sports betting products and services. Whether it be for online or land-based sports betting, there are several major companies manufacturing sports betting apps and products. Below we have listed them for you to review:

Slot Machine and Game Provider Companies

There are not that many different big slot machine companies. Though there are innumerable different titles and games, most of them are made by a select few number of companies. Ballys (not to be confused with the casinos with the same name), IGT, and WMS are some of the most recognized and abundant game makers today. Take a look at the next machine you play and the odds are that it will be made by one of these companies.

Ainsworth
Aristocrat
Bally Technology
Belatra Games
BetGames.tv
Betsoft
Booming Games
Endorphina
Everi Gaming
Evolution Gaming
Ezugi
GameArt
IGT Slot Machines
Microgaming
NetEnt
Playtech
Realtime Gaming
Scientific and WMS Slot Machines
WagerWorks
WGS Technology

A number of slot machine companies who originally only produced physical software and hardware for casinos have now transitioned into online gaming. IGT is one example of a company who has now asserted a real presence with online slots. As this trend continues, more slot players will be able to play their favorite games online from the comfort of their own homes or wherever they have access to the internet.

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