A humble suburban bowls club may have thwarted a multibillion-dollar American casino company’s attempts to introduce its brand to Australia via its planned takeover of the embattled Star Entertainment Group.
Shareholders of Star, which operates casinos in Brisbane, Sydney and the Gold Coast, last month approved Bally’s planned takeover of the company.
During a visit to Australia in April, the chairman of Bally’s Corporation, Soo Kim, told this masthead the company planned to overhaul Star’s assets, with a shift away from a VIP-focused business. But if the casino giant was betting all its chips on a Bally’s rebrand, it might just be out of luck.
Tony Wagener from the Balgowlah Bowls Club applied to register “The Bally” last year.Credit: Jessica Hromas
When it tried to trademark its name for hospitality use in Australia earlier this year, Bally’s found a bowls club in Sydney’s north shore had beat it to the punch by only half a year.
Bally’s Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey.Credit: John Greim/Getty Images
The Balgowlah Bowling Club – better known by locals as The Bally – applied for trademark protection of its colloquial name last September, less than six months before Bally’s Corporation tried to protect its own name.
Club secretary manager Tony Wagener agreed that it was good timing on his part.
“I’ve really got my finger on the pulse of this sort of stuff,” he laughed.
But on a more serious note, Wagener said The Bally name was vital for the bowls club, which almost went under last year and continues to seek community support to stay afloat.
“I don’t really see any businesses as bigger or more important – we just like the name, and we trade under it, so I thought we’d better trademark it,” he said.
“Everyone calls it The Bally.”
Bally’s Corporation chairman Soo Kim during a visit to Australia in April.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Bally’s was advised of its predicament in a June 5 IP Australia letter, obtained by this masthead, sent to the company’s Brisbane-based patent and trademark specialist law firm, MBIP.
“Your trademark closely resembles the [bowls club’s] earlier trademark because they share similar essential elements, being BALLY’S and BALLY,” IP Australia examiner Sean Hammond informs Bally’s in the letter.
“I note the differences between these trademarks. However, this is not enough to make your trademark sufficiently different.
“Because the trademarks share similar essential identifying elements, consumers are likely to confuse your services, and those of the earlier trademark, as originating from the same, or similar, trade source.”
Repeated requests for comment from Bally’s, headquartered in the US state of Rhode Island, went unanswered.
Wagener said the bowls club had no intention of giving up the name but would be open to a conversation with Bally’s – even if they had fundamentally different approaches to hospitality.
“We would explain the case that we also use that name, and we’re an Australian company and have been using it for quite some time,” he said.
“We don’t have any pokie machines or any form of gaming permanently at the club – our model is more traditional, sort of food and beverage, music, bowls and functions.
“We do a lot of fundraisers, a lot of community events. We have exercise classes. We don’t trade off any sort of gambling revenue at all.”
Tony Wagener in the Bally bowlo.Credit: Jessica Hromas
It was not the first time an American corporate giant ran afoul of Australian IP laws. One of the higher-profile cases was in 1971, when Burger King entered the Australian market only to discover a small Adelaide restaurant was already trading under that name.
The result was Hungry Jack’s, with its burger-shaped logo stylistically identical to its US counterpart.
The Bally’s takeover was a lifeline for Star, which was trying to sell its stake in Brisbane’s Queen’s Wharf precinct to its Destination Brisbane Hong Kong-based consortium partners, Chow Tai Fook Enterprises and Far East Consortium.
While a Bally’s takeover of Star would give them the inside running to operate at Queen’s Wharf, Chow Tai Fook and Far East were also in talks with Crown Resorts – Destination Brisbane’s rival when bidding for the right to build the precinct a decade ago – to take over casino operations in Brisbane.
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.