Bally Technologies triples earnings for third quarter

Bally Technologies said Monday revenues from its systems division helped it more than triple quarterly earnings from a year ago.

The Las Vegas-based slot maker reported a net income of $30.2 million, or 52 cents per share, for its third quarter ended March 31, up from $6.6 million, or 12 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial thought Bally would earn 48 cents a share in the quarter.

Revenues rose 32.8 percent to $232.6 million from $175.2 million.

"The continued momentum in all of our technology businesses drove record third-quarter earnings," Bally Chief Executive Officer Richard Haddrill said.

The company released earnings Monday after trading closed on the New York Stock Exchange. Before the announcement, analysts were unsure how to view the company.

Bally Technologies recently signed an agreement with Barona Valley Ranch in San Diego, where the casino will upgrade its slot management system with Bally products. Several analysts thought the deal could pave the way for Bally to provide server-based gaming technology to Barona's 2,000 slot machines.

Bally said it shipped more than 7,300 slot machines in the quarter, which compared with shipments of 6,500 games by International Game Technology and 4,981 slot machines by WMS Industries in the same period.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.