What is the history of Dollar Bill Validators?

[uniman]

Does anyone know the history of DBV's? JCM appears to be the leader in the industry but I see others like MARS and
another that was called CBV (Coin Bill Validators Inc).
How and why did JCM become the leader?

The reason I'm asking is that I see Universal used the MARS GL-5 Series, the CBV, and what appears to be their own DBV in their earlier machines. Not until the Ultra Series do I see a JCM 145.

[Op-Bell]

How and why did JCM become the leader?

In the beginning there was Sigma Gaming. Sigma wanted to make an automatic change dispenser, and being a Japanese company, they called on the people they knew best - JCM was big in Japan before anyone ever heard of it here. JCM made Sigma a dollar bill acceptor especially for that device, which was the first use of a bill acceptor in a casino. The machine dispensed rolled coin, 1 roll of quarters for $10 and two rolls for $20. Here's a picture:



Sigma then started making side-mounts using the same acceptor head. These were installed on all kinds of machines, and used the machine's own hopper to make change for paper money. I presume that involved a special bit of Sigma electronics inside the game. I saw these in use in Reno as recently as 2000.



In the mid 90s, JCM decided to call on IGT to see if a bill acceptor could be fitted inside the game. The salesman was Aki Isoi, who today is the head of JCM American and is widely credited with coming up with the idea in the first place. The IGT engineers heading up the project were Larry Hult and Bob Luciano, who later left IGT to set up Sierra Design Group. JCM worked with IGT for a year to produce a new acceptor and transport, which was the DBV-45. The rest, as they say, is history.

[uniman]

Another nice piece of history, thanks Op-Bell. 


I did a little digging and I see the Universal 8800 board could use JCM or MARS.