Industry Visionary John Acres Joins Office of CTO

LAS VEGAS, July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Bally Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: BYI), a leader in slots, video machines, casino management systems and networked solutions for the global gaming industry, announced today that the Company has formed an Innovation Lab to focus on the research and development of new gaming technologies, features, and products and help accelerate the commercial deployment of the most cutting-edge games and systems technologies of the Networked Floor of the Future(TM).

Bally Technologies appointed Bryan Kelly, Vice President of Technology, as head of the Innovation Lab, which is based in Northern California. Through the Innovation Lab, Kelly will lead Bally's efforts to inspire and synergize development efforts from Bally's entire R&D team, which has tripled in size in less than three years. The lab will research emerging and paradigm-shifting technologies to help ensure that Bally stays at the forefront of the gaming manufacturing and technology industry.

'The Bally Innovation Lab will coordinate and lead our commitment to drive synergy and promote a culture of providing leading technologies and creative, customer-centric products,' said Richard M. Haddrill, the Chief Executive Officer of Bally Technologies. 'With the growth and leadership of our engineering teams, the flow of ideas is astounding.'

'I'm thrilled and honored to lead Bally's Innovation Lab, which will allow us to capitalize on our R&D talent across the globe and accelerate development and deployment of new technology to our customers,' Kelly said.

Bally also announced the creation of the Office of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) to serve as a thought leader on technology. Bally's Office of the CTO will be comprised of these industry powerhouses:

-- Robert Luciano, Bally's CTO, who has returned to Bally part-time after a medical leave. Luciano's distinguished gaming career includes founding Sierra Design Group (acquired by Bally in 2004), which he grew into one of the leading providers of Class II and video lottery gaming devices.

-- John Acres, the Chief Executive Officer of Acres-Fiore, a gaming content provider, who is a well-respected entrepreneur and gaming industry veteran. Acres founded Acres Gaming and co-founded Mikohn, Inc.