Bally Has Slot Machine History

Bally Technologies is originally from Chicago, where it was founded in January of 1932 by a man named Raymond T. Maloney. Since the first game was made by the company they have moved into other ventures in addition to the slot machines. But the company says that the slots are still their main focus.

Their very first product was a game called the “Ballyhoo” which was a pinball machine. It came right at the time of the Great Depression, and turned out to be a boon for the slot machine company as people loved to play it and forget about their financial problems for awhile. Slot machines soon followed pinball machines, and before you knew it Bally’s slot machines were employing more than anyone else in Chicago.

Then in 1989, the company moved its operations to Las Vegas, where they continued to rule as slot machine “king” for quite a long time. The slot machine giant lost some of its footing on the market when other companies started moving in back in the 1990’s. Up until that point, the company was supplying somewhere around 90+% of the slot machine market.

Then with their diversifying into amusement parks, exercise equipment, etc., they lost more of their slot machine focus, but have since put their focus back on what they should have been doing all along – slot machines. They say that they made a conscious decision almost three years ago to revamp their slot machines and push forward to becoming the best in the industry again.

 

Back to Monthly Archive // Main Slot Machine News Index