From: elliott@aero.org (Kenneth B. Elliott III)
Newsgroups: rec.gambling
Subject: Re: Bally Gaming (BGII) Ups 'n' Downs
Date: 3 Jan 93 06:20:09
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: solarium.aero.org
In-reply-to: TRADER@cup.portal.com's message of Fri,  1 Jan 93 01:47:31 PST


This probably belongs in misc.invest, but since we started it here...

[TRADER@cup.portal.com (Paul Vincent McGinnis)] writes:
>
>In a recent article, elliott@aero.org (Kenneth B. Elliott III) asked about
>the stock happenings at Bally Gaming (stock symbol BGII). I haven't followed
>them in a while, but I assume they are a subsidiary of Bally Mfg. Bally's
>is in serious financial trouble - they recently had to sell their Reno
>casino. They also own Holiday Health Spas, (Their stock symbol is BLY - they
>may have split into multiple entitities...)
>

Actually, BGII is the part of Bally Mfg. (BLY) that makes the slot
machines, video poker machines, etc.  From what I can tell it came
into existence (i.e., was spun off BLY) about November of 1991 (from
what I read, BLY owns about 22% of BGII).  The selling of the Reno
casino isn't really "new" news; that information I believe has been
reflected in the share price (of BLY) for some time.  I read a little
blurb on BLY on one of the Compu$erve company information services,
and it said that BLY actually made a profit last quarter and was
paying a dividend (common stock, though, not cash) to its preferred
share holders; and has been paying down some of its debt with the
proceeds from the sale of the Reno property (my father said he thought
that that money would go to expand the LV Bally's--probably into the
parking lots in front of (along LV Blvd.) and to the south of the
current place; anyone heard anything about that?)--my guess is that
this is what has caused BLY to reach a level not seen for about 3
years.  BGII, on the other hand, is a mystery; maybe they were in
contention for supplying a new casino (New Orleans?) somewhere and
they lost?

>
>Just to clarify-stock prices often bear little relation to the value of a 
>company.
>

Huh?  Depends on what you mean, I guess.  If you mean share price vs.
book value/share, you might be right, depending on how you calculate
book value and the kind of company it is.  If you mean "value" in the
sense of news about the company, I don't agree.

>
> It's another form of gambling, except you're playing for "real 
>money". My own bet for 1993 is on Amdahl Corp. (AMH). 
>

Really? (follow-ups to misc.invest)  The way IBM is sucking out
big-time, and given that a large part of AMH's business is copying the
370 (370XA/ESA370/ES9000/Whatever) architecture, and the direction of
mainframe computing in general, I don't think these guys are a good
bet at all.  Do they, or companies they own, have any stake in the
workstation (e.g., Sun-class) market?

>
>I recommend Financial Funds' Leisure Fund (CUSIP symbol FLISX), P.O. Box
>2040, Denver, CO, 80201. I've had a good year (1992) with them. They not
>only own gambling stocks, but distillery stocks, cruise line stocks, etc.
>

Thanx for the tip.  I don't usually like Mutual Funds (not as much
fun, for some reason; I prefer craps over BJ too, though, so...), but
this sounds interesting.

KBEIII
--

Ken Elliott III                  The Aerospace Corp.
elliott@aero.org                 Suite 4400
(410) 312-1405                   8840 Stanford Rd.
                                 Columbia, MD  21045
Newsgroups: rec.gambling