- Bally’s is planning to rebrand all of their brick-and-mortar casinos under the company name within the next 12 months.
- The announcement was made by President and CEO George Papanier in the company’s Q2 earnings call.
- The lone exception is the Hard Rock Biloxi. Bally’s also has a pending deal to buy the Tropicana Las Vegas and rebranding plans for that property are unknown.
Bally’s has been ridiculously busy in the past year to the point that it’s difficult to keep track of their progress. Hard to believe that it was only in late 2020 that the former Twin River Worldwide Holdings rebranded to Bally’s Corporation. Since then they’ve acquired companies, bought properties and launched mobile sports betting in Colorado and Iowa. They’ve done a deal with Sinclair Broadcasting that resulted in all of the former regional Fox Sports Networks being rebranded under the ‘Bally Sports’ nameplate. For their next trick, they’re going to rebrand all of their brick and mortar casinos under the ‘Bally’s’ brand name. They plan to complete this transition within the next year.
The lone exception will be the Hard Rock Biloxi as Bally’s Corporation President and CEO George Papanier outlined in the company’s Q2 earnings call:
Lastly, we kicked off this summer with the rebranding initiative and investments in order to create a single national customer database. For the next 12 months, all of our casinos other than Hard Rock Biloxi will be rebranded Bally’s, increasing awareness of the brand and providing the company opportunities to send local customers to our destination casinos, as well as a national player database and incentive program.
Some of the rebranding process is already in the works. In Colorado, Bally’s owns three casinos formerly known as the Golden Gates Casino, Golden Gulch Casino and Mardi Gras Casino. These properties are now collectively known as Bally’s Black Hawk and individually as Bally’s Black Hawk North (Mardi Gras Casino), Bally’s Black Hawk East (Golden Gulch) and Bally’s Black Hawk West (Golden Gulch). At last check, the ‘micro’ elements of rebranding–changing logos and signs at the actual properties–were well underway. Bally’s Atlantic City is already properly branded. The former Lady Luck Casino in Vicksburg, MI is now Bally’s Vicksburg and is well into the rebranding process. Casino KC is now Bally’s Kansas City and is set for $40 million USD in renovation and redevelopment. As noted above, Hard Rock Biloxi will retain the current brand.
At some point, the rest of the gaming portfolio will get a rebrand including the Twin River Casino Hotel in Lincoln, RI, the Dover Downs Hotel & Casino in Dover, DE, the Tiverton Casino Hotel in Tiverton, RI, the Eldorado Resort Casino in Shreveport, LA (most likely to Bally’s Shreveport), the Montbleu Resort Casino & Spa in Stateline, NV, the Tropicana Evansville in Evansville, IN and Jumer’s Casino & Hotel in Rock Island, IL. Bally’s also owns the Arapahoe Park horse racing facility which will also get a rebrand.
Bally’s has a pending deal to purchase the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and their branding plans for this property are unknown. Another issue in the Las Vegas market is the current Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino property at 3645 South Las Vegas Boulevard. The current Bally’s is owned by Caesars Entertainment which has a perpetual license to continue using the brand obtained during the sale of Bally’s Atlantic City to the former Twin River Holdings. The current Bally’s and the Tropicana could both continue using the same names but it sure seems silly to have a Bally’s branded property not owned by Bally’s when right down the street there’s a non-Bally’s branded property owned by Bally’s Corporation. Assuming that the current Bally’s Las Vegas would be amiable to a rebrand the Tropicana could become ‘Bally’s Las Vegas’ but there’s some more brand confusion. My guess is that the Trop will become ‘Bally’s Tropicana Las Vegas’ but that’s just conjecture at this point. The Trop purchase isn’t expected to close until early 2022 so there’s time for this all to get worked out. The most recent word was in early August when a Bally’s spokesperson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that ‘no decision had been made’ on rebranding the Tropicana.
Bally’s CEO Papanier also deferred during the company’s Q2 earnings call:
“We’re excited about the longer-term potential and across market opportunities we have and will provide incremental information once we acquire the property.”
Bally’s website also shows a number of ‘coming soon’ states for Bally’s mobile sports betting app including Indiana, Illinois, Virginia, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The app is currently live in Colorado and Iowa.
