Rhode Island-based casino operator Twin River Holdings, Inc. announced today it acquired the Bally’s brand from its owner, Caesars Entertainment, for $20 million. The deal will allow the casino operator to keep the brand for the previously purchased Bally’s Atlantic City and also rebrand all of its casino properties.
Bally’s Rise and Fall
Bally’s brand was one of the biggest names symbolic with American gaming, running entertainment venues such as The Six Flags amusement park chain, Bally Total Fitness and the video gaming company producer of some of the biggest arcade titles in the 70s and 80s.
In 1996 the casinos under the brand were acquired by Hilton Hotels for $2 billion, to create the largest gaming company, but today the casino brand is represented by only two gaming properties, Bally’s Atlantic City and Bally’s Las Vegas.
As part of the acquisition deal for the iconic brand, the casino company in which the Standard General hedge fund has a majority stake of 39%, agreed to provide Caesars with a perpetual license to use the brand for its Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino property.
Hedge fund co-founder Soo Kim intends on changing the Twin River’s trading ticker this week to reflect more of the Bally’s name, as well as plans for launching a Bally-branded sports betting website. The investor strongly believes there is a huge opportunity to revive a gaming brand which Caesars were not utilizing fully.
Rebranding of Casino Properties
Twin River owns and manages 9 casinos across 6 states, 2 in Rhode Island, 2 in Mississippi, 1 in Delaware, 1 in Missouri and 3 in Colorado. In addition to the gaming establishments in the Centennial State, the casino company operates a horse race track which has 13 authorized off-track betting (OTB) licenses.
Twin River’s latest acquisition, Jumer’s Casino in Rock Island, Illinois, for $120 million, as well as previous transactions for Bally’s Atlantic City for $25 million and the combined deal for Eldorado Shreveport in Shreveport, Louisiana and MontBleu Resort Casino in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, for $155 million, upon completion, will bring the total number of casinos managed by the Rhode Island-based operator to 13.
The acquisition of the Bally’s brand will now allow Twin River to roll it out across some or most of its casino properties across the states, seeking to rewind history and restore the old glory days for the brand. Twin River did not provide further details which properties will undergo a shedding and when.