kholders of Bally Technologies have approved the company’s planned merger with fellow provider Scientific Games Corporation.

The news of the takeover was first announced in July, when Bally revealed it had agreed a $5.1bn merger deal with Scientific Games, which was to acquire Bally’s common stock for $83.80 per share.

A stockholders meeting was held on Tuesday, and more than 99.61% of the votes represented and cast at the meeting were in favour of the merger agreement, or approximately 76.97% of the total outstanding common stock eligible to vote as of the 20 October record date.

The deal is expected to be completed in early 2015, following further approval from the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Stockholder approval was one of the conditions for the merger going through, and it will still require other customary closing conditions.

Directors of both companies unanimously approved the deal in a previous vote.