Bally Technologies are based in Enterprise, Nevada in the USA. They are one of the US’s premier manufacturers of real-world video slot machines, and online gambling software. They have total assets close to one billion dollars, and in 2014 were bought by the gaming giant Scientific Games.
Bally Technologies History
The origins of Bally can be traced back as far as 1932. The ‘Bally Manufacturing Corporation’ was created by Lion Manufacturing employee Raymond Moloney, in order create and market pinball machines. The new organisation took its name from the first game it created – ‘Ballyhoo’.
Soon Bally became the most successful pinball machine manufacturer in the USA. The Chicago-based company soon expanded into mechanical slot machines, and even manufactured munitions and airplane components during World War Two.
Ray Moloney passed away in 1958, and Bally suffered as a result. The company was bought by new investors in 1963, but continued to dominate the US slot machine industry. By 1964 nine out of every ten mechanical slot machines in the world was made by Bally, and in the same year it introduced the first slot machine with electrical components, named ‘Money Honey’.
In 1968 two entrepreneurs, Jack Solomon and Alvin Snapper, created the company ‘Advanced Patent Technology’. Initially they created all kinds of advanced technologies, but in 1979 they moved into the gaming industry when they bought ‘United Coin Machine Co.’ – one of Bally’s main rivals. The company soon flourished, and in 1985 merged with the video slot machine maker Omega Enterprises.
This new company underwent a whole series of mergers and acquisitions until it was bought by Bally in 1996. For a while this new Bally subsidiary was known as ‘Alliance Gaming’, but in 2006 changed its name to Bally Technologies.
In 2014 Bally agreed to sell its Bally Technologies division to Scientific Games for $3.3 billion plus $1.8 billion in assumed debt. The company decided to keep the name Bally Technologies as a distinct subsidiary of Scientific Games.
Bally Technologies Slots
Bally Technologies have released some fantastic real-world video slots. Unfortunately, only a handful of these slots have been ported to online versions. This is because the owners of real world casinos are distrustful of online casinos, fearful that punters are likely to quit the real tables in favour of virtual ones. As a result, Bally reserves all its best slots for real-world versions.
Such Bally classics include the Titanic video slot, which is based on the 1997 film that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as a pair of newly-met lovers whose affair began well but then sank without trace. This slot has won multiple awards.
Other noteworthy slots include King of Pop and Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’, both centred around the late musical maestro Michael Jackson. A recent Bally Technologies hit is Pawn Stars, which is based on a successful US cable TV show which is a Las Vegas-style version of ‘The Antiques Roadshow’. Pawn Stars is also one of the few Bally Technologies slots that has been ported to an online version.
The Bally Technologies online portfolio can only muster around a total of thirty slots, and all have a very basic, five-reel set up but with enjoyable bonus features. Some of the best Bally Technologies slots include Grease, Lady Robin Hood, Tiger Treasures and Cash Wizard.
The payout percentages on Bally Technologies slots tend to be a little on the low side, with some dipping as low as 93 percent. In addition, although plenty of Bally’s real-world slots have life-changing progressive jackpots, none of Bally’s online slots do.
Bally Technologies Conclusion
Despite having over eighty years worth of experience in the casino industry, Bally Technologies must be considered a bit of an ‘also-ran’ when it comes to online casinos. This is probably because the company focuses mainly on its real-world casino activities, where it rivals WMS and IGT as the biggest provider of real-world video slots.
Perhaps with the fresh backing of Scientific Games, Bally will start to take the opportunities offered by the virtual casino world a little more seriously.
