[ Home ]

[ Slots News ]

Slot Manufacturer Profile: Bally Gaming    (Part 1)

If you are an American slot machine fan, then it is unlikely that you have not heard of the Bally Gaming company. Bally is one of the biggest fruit machine manufacturers in the United States at the present time. Bally has been something of a chameleon throughout its long history in the U.S. gambling market, changing its name and business model several times. The outcome has been nothing but success, however. You probably recognize the Bally name from several other places. The company has purchased the Six Flags chain of theme parks located in different states from coast to coast, as well as the beautiful and massive MGM Grand casino resort in Las Vegas. Many Americans exposure to the Bally name has come from its fitness chain of health clubs and its line of exercise equipment pieces.

This American slot machine success story was the creation of an entrepreneur named Ray Maloney. Maloney founded the Bally Manufacturing Company as a subsidiary of Lion Manufacturing in 1932. Bally began as a pinball machine manufacturer. The first years of the Great Depression marked the heyday of the pinball machine, foreshadowing the rise to popularity of Bally’s destined star product, the slot machine. Pinball machines began to appear in stores across America, and part of the reason for their ubiquity was the Bally company’s diligent marketing. The company’s name actually came from one of their most successful products, the Ballyhoo pinball device. Bally’s pinball domination was contained to just the Midwestern segment of the nation initially, before the company’s success brought its fun and popular pinball games to a nationwide market.

Continue to part 2 here.

Back to October 2008 Archive.