Bally’s was first known as BLB Investors when it was founded in 2004 before changing its name to Twin River Worldwide Holdings in 2011. In 2020, the company renamed itself for a second time to Bally’s when it acquired the rights to the Bally’s brand from Caesars Entertainment.
BLB was a joint venture between several investors who were launching a bid to buy Wembley plc., a UK-based operator of racetracks. Wembley’s prime assets were a greyhound track called Lincoln Park and a slot machine parlor, both based in Rhode Island.
In 2007, BLB undertook a $220m expansion of Lincoln Park. However, the company would later suffer financial collapse and was bought by a syndicate, led by the Bank of America, in 2010. This led to its first name change to Twin River Worldwide Holdings a year later..
As the popularity of greyhound racing waned in the 2010s, the company pivoted to land based casino gaming. They bought Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi in Mississippi for $250m in 2014, before acquiring the Newport Grand in Rhode Island, for $22m.
In 2016, hedge fund Standard General took ownership of the company and set off another wave of expansion. In January 2020, Twin River purchased three casinos in Black Hawk, Colorado (the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Mardi Gras) from Affinity Gaming for $51m.
In July of the same year, it acquired two casinos in Missouri and Mississippi (Isle of Capri Casino, Kansas City and Lady Luck Casino, Vicksburg) from Eldorado Resorts for $230m. It was during this period they also bought Bally’s from Caesars and rebranded the company with its current name (this sale cost them $20m).
The company would do further business with Caesars Entertainment in 2021, when it purchased the Tropicana Evansville, Indiana, from them for $140m.
In January 2022, Standard General moved to take full ownership of Bally's, offering to buy all outstanding shares in a transaction valuing the company at approximately $2bn.
Key Personnel:
Head of Business Development, Event Manager: Telles Loy
Head of Business Development, Event Developer: Rizvi Azzez
Locations: Colorado, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, Illinois, Louisiana, Rhode Island, Mississippi.
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