Bally

Days were long, tempers were short, and boredom was something you could never completely escape in a Thai refugee camp. Thousands risked life and limb to escape the Communist regime that took over Laos in 1975. But they had to wonder if a two-year stay in the refugee camps, where conditions were often harsh, was much better than the life that had awaited them under the new Laotian government.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. broke ground on a 150,000-square-foot gambling equipment manufacturing facility at the Hughes Airport Center on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Company officials said the plant will employ about 300 people when production starts this fall on slot machines, video game products and on-line lottery terminals. The new facility also is to house the division's administration, finance, research and development, sales and marketing staffs.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. has announced an agreement to acquire the Clermont Club in London from Mecca Leisure Group for about $50 million. The sale is subject to approval by all U.S. gaming authorities and the Gaming Board for Great Britain.

Bally's Hotel officials say they are looking for a replacement act for Frank Sinatra, who surprised the resort Thursday by canceling an upcoming engagement because of a six-month strike by musicians. The resort said it is seeking a replacement for Sinatra's engagements Monday through Dec. 9 and Dec. 26-31 because the singer has been "so inconsistent" in his statements about performing despite the strike. "Bally's can no longer rely upon any schedule of performances previously agreed to by Mr.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. said it bought the assets of Systems Resource Group Inc., a computer software company in Reno, Nev. Terms were not disclosed. Systems Resource is a computer software company specializing in casino, food and beverage and cruise-line industries.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. on Wednesday canceled a spinoff of its casino business after regulators objected to the participation of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., which is facing criminal and civil charges for fraud. Drexel was to underwrite $400 million in debt as part of the spinoff, but the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement voted 4-0 Wednesday to bar the investment banking firm from involvement in the casino industry in the state.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. said late Thursday that it will spin off its hotel-casino group, which accounts for nearly half of its revenue, as a separate publicly-held company but will retain up to a 15% stake in the business. Bally stockholders will receive, tax-free, one share of common stock in the hotel-casino business for each share of Bally Manufacturing they own on the effective date of the spinoff, the Chicago-based company said in a statement.

Bally Manufacturing Corp. is getting out of the arcade machines business it created 57 years ago, selling its pinball and video games business to concentrate on more lucrative ventures, according to a company official. Bally, which produced such popular games as "Pac-Man," "Ms. Pac-Man," "Space Invaders" and "8-Ball Deluxe," will sell assets from that part of its business for about $8 million to a chief competitor, WMS Industries Inc.

At least 100 people were evacuated briefly from the top three floors of Bally's Grand-Reno Hotel-Casino on Friday after the roof caught fire. The two-alarm blaze began at 5:30 p.m. and caused minor fire damage in the 27-floor, 2,001-room hotel-casino, according to Reno Fire Department Battalion Chief Paul Edgington. Edgington said that at first firefighters did not know how big the blaze was and whether the entire hotel-casino would have to be evacuated. Last year, Bally's Inc.

Robert E. Mullane stood on the balcony of a penthouse suite at Bally's Hotel and surveyed a 23-acre, $30-million parcel of land 27 stories below on the Las Vegas Strip. The genial Irishman has headed Chicago-based Bally Manufacturing Corp. for eight years, and 1987 was one of the more turbulent ones. With a little luck, a healthy economy and transformation of the expensive patch of desert into an expansion of Bally's biggest resort, 1988 should be better.