Quoted from SuperPinball:It's an interesting theory and I suppose anything is theoretically possible. For now I will group it in with the existence of Bigfoot, the Loch ness monster, the Virgin Mary appearing on a half eaten toast and now Stern buying CGC.
Anyone remember when Bendix attempted to take over Martin-Marietta? That backfired as the smaller company Martin-Marietta launched a hostile takeover of Bendix. They were winning the battle until a white knight was found in Allied Chemical. Maybe Jersey Jack will take over Churchill and Stern. That would be more like the existence of the Loch Ness Monster (Or, Ogopogo for those of you in BC near Lake Okanagan).
Look back at the history of Lenc-Smith (which mostly survives under the Churchill & Chicago Gaming names) The surviving partner, Woody Smith, became a member of the BoD of Bally Manufacturing Corporation (totally by coincidence I'm sure) a few months before Bally acquired Lenc-Smith. Woody remained in charge as president of Lenc-Smith but was more like a General Manager until his retirement.
Filler/Trivia: After Woody retired, his son Bob became the GM of the renamed Bally L-S division. Unfortunately, he got a building CONtractor who did business with Bally to remodel his home as well as his mother's but CONveniently billed the work to Bally as work done at a Bally owned building. That's a felony by the way.
One other bit of trivia, The corporate entity Lenc-Smith Inc. is still a Bally and now Scientific Games corporate holding. Based in Las Vegas, it no longer is associated with the location in Cicero.