A friend of mine in Las Vegas just e-mailed to tell me that work crews are removing the name "Bally's" on the outside of Bally's Las Vegas, the big hotel at the corner of South Las Vegas Boulevard and East Flamingo Road. The place started life in 1973 as the MGM Grand but in 1986, Bally's — a company that started by manufacturing pinball and slot machines — bought the casino-hotel and renamed it.
A new hotel called the MGM Grand opened farther down the strip in 1993. It is still there and still named the MGM Grand. I think.
The Bally's company was purchased in 1996 by Hilton Hotels and then in 1998, Hilton split off all its casino-type operations into a company called Park Place. In 2003, Park Place was renamed Caesars Entertainment since they owned Caesars Palace along with other hotels. Then in 2005, Caesars Entertainment was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment.
Thoroughly confused? Wait, it gets worse: In 2010, Harrah's Entertainment was renamed Caesars Entertainment Corporation.
And worse: Back in 2003, one of the oldest casino-hotels in Vegas, Binion's Horseshoe, got into a huge legal battle with the the Culinary Workers Union and the Bartenders Union. A messy situation ensued and when it was over, Binion's Horseshoe was acquired by Harrah's, back when it was still Harrah's, but they soon sold it off to a company called MTR Gaming. Harrah's retained the rights to the name "Horseshoe" and some other intellectual property so Binion's Horseshoe became Binion's Gambling Hall.
Caesars Entertainment Corporation has been using the name "Horseshoe" on some of its properties around the world so now Bally's is being renamed Horseshoe Las Vegas. That's why they're taking the name "Bally's" down.
Back when I was playing Blackjack and counting cards, my two best winning streaks occurred at the original MGM Grand on The Strip and at Binion's Horseshoe downtown. Counting those cards was tough but not nearly as tough as keeping track of what any of these places was named and who owned them at any given moment.