Bally's Corporation is a gaming, betting, and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. It owns and operates 15 casinos across ten states, a horse track in Colorado, and online sports betting operations in 14 states. Additionally, the company owns the sports betting platform Bet.Works, daily fantasy sports operator Monkey Knife Fight, and SportCaller, a free-to-play game provider.
The company was founded in 2004 as BLB Investors. It eventually changed its name to Twin River Worldwide Holdings. In 2020, the company acquired the rights to the Bally's brand from Caesars Entertainment and changed its own name to Bally's Corporation.
History
Bally's originated as BLB Investors. BLB was formed in 2004, as a joint venture between Starwood Capital Group, Kerzner International, and the Waterford Group for the purpose of launching a bid to acquire Wembley plc. Wembley was a British operator of racetracks in the United Kingdom and the United States, whose primary asset was Lincoln Park, a greyhound track and slot machine parlor in Rhode Island. BLB reached a deal in February 2005, agreeing to pay $435 million for Lincoln Park, plus $20 million for Wembley's other U.S. properties, comprising a horse track (Arapahoe Park) and three greyhound tracks in Colorado. The purchase closed in July 2005.
BLB undertook a $220-million expansion of Lincoln Park and, in 2007, renamed it Twin River.
By 2008, as a result of the global economic recession, BLB was struggling financially and began defaulting on loans related to the purchase and renovation of Twin River. In June 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a prepackaged plan to hand over ownership to its creditors. The company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010, now owned by a syndicate of lenders led by Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Sankaty Advisors. In 2011, the company changed its name to Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
In Colorado, the company's three dog racing tracks closed as interest in the sport declined, and all three had been sold off by 2011.
Land-based gaming expansion
In 2014, Twin River bought the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Biloxi in Mississippi from Leucadia National for $250 million. The acquisition was made to diversify the company geographically, in preparation for expected competition from Massachusetts, which had legalized casinos in 2011.
In 2015, Twin River purchased Rhode Island's only other casino, the Newport Grand, for $22 million, and announced plans to relocate its operations to a new facility to be built in Tiverton, Rhode Island. The Newport Grand closed in 2018, and its replacement, the $140-million Tiverton Casino Hotel, opened days later.
In 2016, hedge fund Standard General took an ownership stake in Twin River, and its principal partner, Soo Kim, took a seat on the board. Kim went on to become Twin River's chairman in 2019, and began leading the company through a rapid expansion.
In March 2019, Twin River completed a reverse merger with Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, the parent company of Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. The transaction made Twin River a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange and left Dover Downs shareholders with a 7 percent stake in the combined company.
In January 2020, Twin River purchased three casinos in Black Hawk, Colorado (the Golden Gates, Golden Gulch, and Mardi Gras) from Affinity Gaming for $51 million.
In July 2020, Twin River bought two casinos in Missouri and Mississippi (Isle of Capri Casino Kansas City and Lady Luck Casino Vicksburg) from Eldorado Resorts for $230 million. They were renamed Casino KC and Casino Vicksburg.
Later that month, Twin River acquired the rights to the Bally's brand from Caesars Entertainment for $20 million. At the time, Twin River said that it would rebrand "virtually all" of its properties under the Bally's name. In November 2020, the company changed its name to Bally's Corporation and its stock ticker symbol to BALY. Days later, the company closed on purchasing Bally's Atlantic City from Caesars and Vici Properties for $25 million.
Bally's acquired the Eldorado Shreveport casino hotel in Louisiana from Eldorado Resorts in December 2020 for $140 million.
In January 2021, Bally's partnered with developer Ira Lubert in a plan to build a $120-million casino in the area of State College, Pennsylvania. The next month, the company announced another proposed casino development, Bally's Richmond, which would be built in Richmond, Virginia, at a cost of $650 million; the proposal was rejected by the city.