corporation type public traded as otc pink blly industry fitness founded 1983 1 headquarters chicago illinois u.s. 2 number of locations 2 area served united states website www.ballyfitness.com bally total fitness is an american fitness club chain which operates two gyms as of august 2016 . in november 2011 bally sold 171 bally locations to competitor l.a. fitness . 3 in april 2012 bally sold an additional 39 facilities to blast fitness . 4 5 in december 2014 bally sold most of their remaining gyms an additional 32 to competitor 24 hour fitness . at its 2007 peak prior to the filing of the first of two chapter 11 bankruptcies bally operated nearly 440 facilities located in 29 u.s. states mexico canada south korea china and the caribbean under the bally total fitness crunch fitness gorilla sports pinnacle fitness bally sports clubs and sports clubs of canada brands . the company s headquarters are located in chicago illinois . 2 as a result of bally technologies s acquisition by scientific games corporation in 2014 to which it uses the bally name under a licensing agreement and williams shuttering their headquarters in waukegan il the following year in june to scientific s new global corporate headquarters in las vegas in which bally technologies already has its headquarters in that city ; it is the last surviving non gambling ex subsidiary of the original bally manufacturing company and the last remaining former bally division to exist as an independent company excluding bally wulff and bally france to continue using the bally name and also the last remaining non gambling descendant bally williams or midway games to remain headquartered in chicago . it is also the last remaining former bally division to remain headquartered in chicago as well as the last surviving all ages friendly division to bear the bally name . contents 1 history 2 bankruptcies 3 investigations and controversies 4 references 5 external links history edit a bally gym in cedar mill oregon in july 2011 . the gym was demolished the following year and was replaced with an orchard supply hardware . in 1983 slot machine maker bally manufacturing purchased health and tennis corporation of america and lifecycle an exercise bike manufacturer . in 1987 it was the world s largest owner and operator of fitness centers . it further expanded with the purchase of the american fitness centers and nautilus fitness centers which were once connected to vic tanny and jack lalanne . the various brands were consolidated under the bally total fitness brand in 1995 . in 1996 bally total fitness was spun from its casino owning parent . in may 1998 it was listed on the new york stock exchange trading under the ticker symbol of bft . the company carried 300 million in debt at the time of its initial public offering . 6 paul toback a former white house aide in the clinton administration who joined bally as a corporate development officer in 1997 was named chief executive officer ceo in december 2002 immediately after predecessor lee hillman resigned . 7 8 9 on november 18 2011 bally total fitness announced the sale of 171 of its clubs located in sixteen states and the district of columbia to an affiliate of la fitness for 153 million . 10 in february 2012 it sold the toledo airport road club to red fitness 24 7 . in april 2012 bally sold an additional 39 facilities to blast fitness . blast fitness has begun operating the new facilities under their own name in stages transitioning entirely away from the bally s name . those two sales left bally with 44 locations 27 of them in the new york area 8 in the san francisco area 1 in louisiana and 8 in colorado . 4 after the la fitness transaction bally had approximately 800 000 members ; the sale allowed bally to retire its corporate debt . 3 all of the clubs in the cleveland area were sold to red fitness 24 7 effective december 31 2012 . some employees received termination notices the same day . the number of clubs still in the bally chain continues to dwindle . for example the bally total fitness location in danville california closed on june 22 2012 and reopened as danville fit . 11 the former bally club in colorado springs co changed ownership in june 2014 and became voretex fitness . 12 in december 2014 thirty two locations located in new york new jersey denver and san francisco bay area are acquired by 24 hour fitness . 13 14 the greece new york location closed without notice on december 30 2014 . 15 the nyc 106th st location became a tapout fitness center in august 2016 . as of august 2016 bally was down to two locations in new york city . bankruptcies edit bally filed for bankruptcy in august 2007 with outstanding debts of 761 million . 16 17 over the preceding ten years its stock price had fallen from a high of approximately us 37.00 to less than 0.37 on the pink sheets a plunge of over 99 % of its value . 17 it was removed from the nyse shortly thereafter . on october 1 2007 bally announced its emergence from bankruptcy court protection 100 % owned by a hedge fund harbinger capital . earlier that year it had sold off its 16 toronto health clubs to existing chains 10 locations were sold to goodlife fitness and 6 to extreme fitness allowing the latter company its first move into the downtown core for what had heretofore been a suburban chain . 18 on december 3 2008 bally again filed for bankruptcy due to problems arising from the global credit crisis . 19 the company indicated at that time that it would explore options including reorganization or possibly even a sale but that it hoped to emerge from bankruptcy as soon as possible . 20 investigations and controversies edit bally total fitness has been the subject of controversy over its sales and membership cancellation practices with some customers claiming they were misled into signing loans with terms up to three years using documents containing uncommonly used language such as retail installment contract . customers alleged that they subsequently found themselves dealing with collection agencies . 21 in april 1994 bally paid 120 000 to settle federal trade commission charges of illegal billing cancellation refund and debt collection practices . consumers have complained however that little has changed over the years . 22 from 1999 to 2004 over six hundred customers complained to the new york attorney general s office leading to an investigation and subsequent agreement by bally total fitness to reform their sales tactics in february 2004 . 23 the company is the subject of numerous complaints on the consumeraffairs.com website to which bally company representatives sometimes post public responses . 24 bally has been the subject of at least one federal investigation in addition to the aforementioned probe into consumer complaints against bally conducted by the new york state attorney general regarding the firm s sales practices . in april 2004 bally disclosed the u.s. securities and exchange commission sec was investigating its accounting practices and in february 2005 the u.s. justice department joined the probe . 25 26 the company eventually restated its financial statements for 1997 through 2003 . on february 28 2008 the sec filed financial fraud charges against bally total fitness . the sec alleged that in 2001 bally overstated its originally reported stockholder s equity by roughly 1.8 billion over 340 % and that bally understated its 2003 net loss by 90.8 million or 845 % . 27 in december 2009 the sec announced that the auditing firm of ernst & young had agreed to pay 8.5 million to settle charges against six current and former partners five based in chicago for failing to detect and report accounting fraud at bally . 28 the sec also settled charges against former bally chief financial officer john w. dwyer and former controller theodore noncek . dwyer agreed to pay a 250 000 fine . he was permanently barred from serving as an officer or director at a public company . noncek consented to similar injunctions for two years . the ernst & young chicago partners where lee hillman and dwyer had worked prior to working at bally audited bally from 2001 to 2003 and failed to find and report fraud despite the fact that ernst & young had previously identified bally as its riskiest account in the chicago area . bally overstated its year end 2001 stockholders equity by 1.8 billion and understated net losses in 2002 by 92.4 million and by 90.8 million in 2003 . 29 30 in 2010 texas attorney general greg abbott announced that the company had mailed over 11 000 fake past due notices to former members . the attorney general charged that bally had urged consumers to immediately pay their late fees and that the conduct was part of a scheme to get consumers to re join the club . 31 references edit bally total fitness holding blly otc stock quote and company profile . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved july 10 2011 . a b bally total fitness holding corporation june 29 2007 . bally total fitness holding corporation form 10 k annual report . u.s. securities and exchange commission . retrieved december 2 2011 . a b goldman stuart november 30 2011 . bally la fitness complete sale of 171 clubs . clubindustry.com . retrieved november 30 2011 . a b goldman stuart april 10 2012 . bally to sell 39 clubs to blast fitness . clubindustry.com . retrieved april 25 2012 . goldman stuart may 2 2012 . bally completes sale of 39 clubs to blast fitness . clubindustry.com . retrieved may 21 2012 . meyers lawrence september 16 2005 . bally totally unfit part 1 . the motley fool . retrieved december 1 2011 . meyers lawrence september 16 2005 . bally s totally unfit part 2 . the motley fool . retrieved december 1 2011 . lee s. hillman separation agreement . bally total fitness holding corporation . december 10 2002 . retrieved december 2 2011 . bally total fitness names paul toback president and chief executive officer . bally total fitness holding corporation . december 11 2002 . retrieved december 2 2011 . goldman stuart november 18 2011 . la fitness acquires 171 bally total fitness clubs . clubindustry.com . retrieved december 1 2011 . dowling julie june 16 2012 . sprouts & shutters goodbye bally total fitness hello danville fit sushi happy hour and more . san ramon patch . retrieved january 25 2015 . goldman stuart january 6 2015 . bally total fitness down to five clubs in operation . clubindustry.com . retrieved january 25 2015 . 24 hour fitness to acquire 32 bally total fitness clubs . 24 hour fitness . december 9 2014 . retrieved january 25 2015 . goldman stuart december 10 2014 . 24 hour fitness to acquire 32 bally total fitness clubs . clubindustry.com . retrieved january 25 2015 . bally s members upset after closure . wham abc 13 . december 31 2014 . retrieved january 25 2015 . bally total fitness chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . pacermonitor . retrieved 31 may 2016 . a b marco meg august 1 2007 . sinking ship bally total fitness files chapter 11 bankruptcy . the consumerist . retrieved july 10 2011 . associated press august 25 2007 . bally s to sell its 16 toronto sites . boston.com . retrieved july 10 2011 . bally total fitness files again for bankruptcy . the new york times . december 3 2008 . retrieved december 2 2011 . bally total fitness files for bankruptcy . ctv news . 2008 12 03 . archived from the original on 6 december 2008 . retrieved 2008 12 03 .