History of Bally Slot Machines

The Bally Manufacturing was founded in 1932 by a man named Ray Maloney. Maloney founded the company as a division of Lion Manufacturing. The company at the time focused its business model on producing pinball machines. This was the golden age of pinball machines, when the games were starting to fill up stores across the nation.

Bally took its name from their earliest best selling product, the Ballyhoo pinball machine. Within a few shorts years, Bally Manufacturing was selling its products throughout the Midwest. They eventually sold pinball machines to a nationwide market. Along with their pinball marketing, the company began producing mechanical slot machines in the late 1930s. Moloney decided to begin making gambling equipment, and had great success developing and improving the modern mechanical slot machines that formed the backbone of the nascent gaming industry.

Bally Manufacturing continued to produce innovations in both pinball and slot machines through the late 1950s. But the two parallel events took the company in the opposite direction. The mother company, Lion Manufacturing, began to have its own financial difficulties in the later stages of the decade, as well as the early sixties. These concerns certainly affected Bally's business. Perhaps more devastating was the 1958 death of Ray Maloney. Without its founder, Bally began to lose market share.

By 1963, Lion Manufacturing was on its last legs. Bally was sold to outside investors, who rejuvenated the company. By the end of the 1960s, Bally was selling 90% of the slot machines in America. It became a publicly traded company later in the decade. This revenue stream gave Bally the means to delve into other industries.

Bally got into the booming video game industry in the 1970s. It bought the licensing rights to Space Invaders, one of the first truly popular video games. This was followed by the purchase of Pac-Man, a video game phenomenon which dwarfed the success of Space Invaders.

The company also produced a video game console, The Bally Astrocade. Despite being more advanced than its main competitor of the time, The Atari 2600, the console was priced too high for the domestic market and never caught on with the buying public. Bally's forays into other fields met with difficulties, also.

Around the same time in the late 1970s, Bally tried to purchase a casino license in Atlantic City. This foundered upon the high stakes political wrangling for which Atlantic City is famous. This culminated when Bally's then-president, William O'Donnell, resigned due to concerns he was involved with organized crime.

Bally did not give up when it had failed. In the mid 1980s, the company began buying other businesses including theme parks and workout equipment. Each of these would be a rousing success. Bally purchased the Six Flags theme park chain, which coincided with a new wave of rides that hit theme parks at the time. Bally eventually would sell these parks to the Time Warner Company. Bally purchased the Health and Tennis Corporation of America. This business sold fitness and sports equipment. It would go on to become a subsidiary of Bally Technology Inc., the famous Bally Total Fitness.

Bally Slot Machines have some famous games, some of which are classic slots concepts and others referencing American pop culture. It's hard to know where to begin naming the best among them. In the wake of the progressive jackpot revolution, it's probably best to begin with the progressives.

Bally Progressive Jackpots

Bally's progressives demonstrate remarkable ingenuity and variety, and the most famous one would be the Millionaire 777 slot machines. When three particular sevens line up on the maximum wager payline, you win a large progressive jackpot. A hallmark of most Bally slot machines is the inclusion of the 777 progressive in many of their games. Among those which come to mind include:

Triple 777 Double Jackpot
Triple 777 Triple Jackpot
Diamond Live 777
Triple Blazing 7 Seven Times Back To Bally