Meanwhile, in 1991, WMS created a new division, Williams Gaming, to enter the gaming and state video lottery markets, developing and releasing its first video lottery terminals for the Oregon market in 1992.
With the rapid decline of the arcade industry in the 1990s, the company's pinball business became unprofitable, and WMS discontinued the pinball line in 2000. By 1996, WMS had transferred its video game library to its video game subsidiary, Midway Games, which it took public and finally spun off in the late 1990s. Over the last decades of the 20th century, Williams produced popular pinball machines and video arcade games. WMS Gaming was founded as a subsidiary of WMS Industries, whose roots date back to the 1943 founding of Williams Manufacturing Company.
