The Evolution of the Bally Brand: From Pinball and Pac-Man to Football Shirt Sponsorships

Bally Manufacturing: The Legacy Behind Bally's Corporation and Its Unexpected Role in Football Sponsorship Founded in 1932 to manufacture pinball and slot machines, Bally Manufacturing quickly established itself as a powerhouse in North American location-based entertainment.

By the 1960s and into the 1970s, Bally dominated the slot machine industry—accounting for nearly 90% of the global market.

This era of dominance set the stage for Bally’s expansion into video gaming, casino operations, and eventually, a surprising turn into sports sponsorship. Bally’s influence grew even further in the 1970s and 1980s, when the company forged an alliance with Midway, its leading competitor.

The unified Bally/Midway label became synonymous with bringing worldwide arcade classics to American audiences.

Iconic games such as "Space Invaders" and "Pac-Man" arrived stateside thanks to Bally/Midway’s strategic moves.

The company also stepped into the home console space with the Bally Professional Arcade, though the system saw limited commercial success compared to its arcade achievements. The corporate landscape began to shift in 1988, when Williams Electronics acquired the Bally/Midway manufacturing arm, retaining the Bally brand primarily for pinball production until 1999.

Meanwhile, Midway was spun off as a separate company in 1998, further fracturing the once-unified brand. Bally’s enduring legacy continues across various ventures.

In 2006, Bally Technologies emerged after acquiring Bally Gaming International, one of Bally Manufacturing's notable divisions.

The brand remains recognizable, not only in arcades, casinos, and video game history, but now also in unexpected new arenas. A recent example caught widespread attention when football fans noticed the Bally’s logo on the front of Nottingham Forest’s shirts during their recent Premier League match against Brentford.

While the addition of an "s" to the classic name reflects the corporate evolution, the visual identity unmistakably points back to the legendary entertainment brand.

This prominent sports sponsorship belongs to Bally’s Corporation, a firm with roots back to 2004 as BLB Investors.

Following the acquisition of naming rights from Caesars Entertainment, the company was officially rebranded as Bally’s Corporation in 2020.

Today, it operates in the gambling, betting, and interactive entertainment industries—marking yet another chapter in the legacy of the Bally name. However, the partnership between Bally’s and Nottingham Forest is likely to be fleeting.

As highlighted by Premier League policy, all gambling firms will be banned from featuring on club shirts at the end of the current football season, a move set to reshape the landscape of sports sponsorship in line with updated league standards. From its beginnings as a pioneer in slot machines and arcade games to its present-day presence in interactive entertainment and global sports sponsorship, the story of Bally—and later Bally’s Corporation—serves as an indelible part of both gaming history and the modern entertainment business landscape.

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