Bally

Alliance Gaming Corp., a Las Vegas-based operator of gambling machines and the owner of casinos in Mississippi and Nevada, said yesterday that it had offered to acquire Bally Gaming International, the nation's second-largest slot machine maker after International Game Technology of Reno, for more than $134 million, or $12.50 a share, in cash and stock.The unsolicited bid came two months after WMS Industries, a Chicago-based manufacturer of gambling machines and coin-operated amusement equipment, said it had agreed in principle to acquire Bally Gaming in a cash and stock deal valued at $127 million, or about $11.85 a share.

Thoroughbred racing leaders expressed concern yesterday about the decision of the state's harness-racing horsemen to enter into a deal with the Bally casino operators to purchase Rosecroft and Delmarva raceways.Although the harness horsemen rejected the same sort of joint venture offered by Joe De Francis to assist them in buying the tracks, the Pimlico/Laurel owner said he plans to continue extensive intertrack and off-track betting programs already in place with the harness industry."They [the programs]

THE LAST THING MARYLAND'S horse-racing industry needs is a bitter internal dispute that inflames passions and divides loyalties. Yet that is what's happening, thanks to the decision by Bally's, the giant casino company that owns a small Eastern Shore harness track -- Ocean Downs -- to seek permission for its own off-track betting facility in Hagerstown and to keep all the proceeds for itself.That would cut deeply into OTB profits for Laurel and Pimlico owner Joe De Francis. The loss could be $3 million a year, which now helps offset deficits when there is live racing at the throughbred tracks.

BERLIN -- Fire investigators were poking through the rubble of a stable at Bally's Ocean Downs raceway yesterday, searching for the cause of a blaze that killed five racehorses at Maryland's oldest harness track.Firefighters from six nearby volunteer companies worked for more than 90 minutes Monday night, successfully containing damage to one building as horsemen and track employees struggled to evacuate almost three dozen horses from adjacent barns.The loss of the 28-stall stable will not interfere with the track's traditional two-month racing season -- timed in July and August to lure bettors from the beaches during the peak of summer tourism in nearby Ocean City, said raceway president Dennis Dowd.

Bally Total Fitness Holding Corp. and Kessler Rehabilitation Corp. announced a joint venture yesterday in which Kessler will operate physical therapy centers within Bally fitness clubs.Bally -- which has a 400-employee regional service center in Towson and 12 fitness centers in the state -- and Kessler of West Orange, N.J., will have equal control over the newly created KR/BTF LLC.Dave Southern, a Bally spokesman, said the companies have yet to decide which clubs will be renovated to include the rehabilitation centers, although at least one Maryland location will have one.The companies plan to open up to 100 rehabilitation centers nationwide.

The Maryland Racing Commission approved yesterday a request by Bally's Maryland Inc., the new owner of Ocean Downs, to operate a 40-day harness meet from July 3 to Sept. 7.The track near Ocean City will race at 7: 30 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with three exceptions. Those three: Opening week will be Thursday through Sunday, the track will race on Labor Day, and the final week will be Friday through Sunday.The racing commission also granted the owners permission to simulcast races the rest of the year.

In a victory for the state's thoroughbred racetracks, the Maryland Racing Commission defeated yesterday requests by harness racing interests to open an off-track betting parlor in Hagerstown and to conduct their own simulcasts of thoroughbred races.Rejected was the proposal by Bally's Inc., owner of Ocean Downs, to build and operate an off-track betting parlor in Hagerstown.By majority vote, the commission also rejected the harness tracks' request to conduct simulcasting independently of the Maryland Jockey Club, the governing body of the thoroughbred tracks in the state.

Some call it a brazen, drunken act of women's liberation. Others claim it's pure degradation. It's an annual ritual, a rite of passage, on the Preakness infield. Picture this: Blond-haired Jamie Morris hoists herself atop a set of broad shoulders, looks out across a muddy sea of T-shirt clad, beer-bonging twentysomethings and screams "wooooooo!" Then she lifts her head high and yanks up her gray top, answering the calls of "show us your [you-know-whats]!" The crowd closes in on the braless 18-year-old, spraying her with Bud Light and yelping with glee.

The average American consumes 2,500 calories and 130 grams of fat during a typical Thanksgiving dinner - the equivalent of eating 16 slices of pepperoni pizza. - Bally Total Fitness

The new managers of Rosecroft Raceway, the harness track in Prince George's County, will appear before the Maryland Racing Commission today to answer questions about the track's fiscal soundness.A three-person team from Cloverleaf Enterprises Inc., owners of Rosecroft, took over management of the track last week.In an agreement reached Friday with Bally's Maryland Inc., a subsidiary of the casino and hotel giant, Cloverleaf gave up ownership of Ocean Downs, Maryland's other harness track on the Eastern Shore, but retained Rosecroft and replaced Bally's management team with its own.Gerald Brittingham, president of both Cloverleaf Enterprises and the Cloverleaf Standardbred Owners Association, is leader of the new management team.