GPT G3 Bill Acceptor

amcross

GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« on: May 05, 2008, 12:29:19 PM Â»

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hi guys

does the usa market not use Global payment technologies GPT products in any of the machines operated through out the slot industry

gpt based in new york but seem thin on the ground

Op-Bell

Re: GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« Reply #1 on: May 05, 2008, 06:58:01 PM Â»

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They used to be found in some bar-top machines, but otherwise they didn't have any market share in the US. That may be because their shape was unconventional - the mouth was behind the cash box - and they didn't fit easily into Bally or IGT games. Their big market was Australia, where Konami and Aristocrat machines (at least up until Mk IV) had been designed around the GPT and it turned out to be difficult to get anything else in its place. They were good at international currencies.

amcross

Re: GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« Reply #2 on: May 06, 2008, 11:19:09 AM Â»

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op-Bell

i understand what you mean with regards the strange shape

did not realise though that they did not do much business in the us

Australia and those slots

not too bad but a little quirky

But even they have been update from gpt to jcm uba units in europe at least

Op-Bell

Re: GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2008, 04:29:54 PM Â»

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Disclosure: I work for JCM. But here's some history.

The first casino application of bill validators was by the Japanese company Sigma, who made bill-to-rolled-coin dispensers and contracted JCM to make a dollar bill validator for the job. Later Sigma made side-mount validators, which sat in a low box on the stand under the handle and gave change from the machine hopper. These also used the JCM head. In the early 1990s, IGT and JCM did a joint project to put validators inside the machines. Bally and WMS did the same, also with JCM, followed by the rest of the US manufacturers. At that time nobody else had a validator secure enough for gaming. By the time they did, JCM owned the US market and it was getting hard to break in.

GPT, which is actually a Russian company (or at any rate owned by Russians), went where JCM had never been and broke into the gaming market in Australia with Aristocrat, who at that time were locked out of the US market because they couldn't get licensed. Konami also used GPT, which is not surprising, because if you see a Konami game in Australia next to an Aristocrat game you'd swear they used the same molds and press tools for their cabinets. GPT pretty much owned the Pacific rim and most of South America in the 1990s. Everything went well until Aristocrat started selling in the US, when they found that everyone over here used JCM (or JCM-compatible) and wouldn't buy GPT. So they had to change over, starting with the Mk V since the WBA wouldn't fit under the monitor shelf on the original Mk IV. I was involved in the change-over. There was lots of politics involved, which I can't go into here. Basically it was hard business decisions and bad luck, not because they had a bad product.

GPT did eventually make a WBA-shaped validator, but around the same time MEI came out with the Cash Flow and started a price war, and without a major manufacturer to pull them in there was no way GPT could break into the US gaming market with a new product against that sort of competition. They still do ok overseas, and in vending.

<edit> I just looked them up out of interest, and see that GPT inc. has effectively been bought out by Andre Soussa and some associates. Soussa was the manager of the Australian GPT office, a former Aristocrat engineer and the man who fought hardest to keep the business. GPT inc. is currently losing more than $5 million a year on sales of $11 million.

CaptainHappy

Re: GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2008, 11:15:15 PM Â»

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As always Op-Bell, Thanks for your interesting information from the insider perspective. Thanks for all of your contributions to our wonderful forum! Keep up the great posting! K+

CaptainHappy

Op-Bell

Re: GPT G3 bill acceptors
Â« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2008, 01:53:43 PM Â»

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Quote from: CaptainHappy on May 06, 2008, 11:15:15 PM
As always Op-Bell, Thanks for your interesting information from the insider perspective.
Why, thank you, Cap'n! I'm just happy for an opportunity to share some of the history so that it won't be forgotten.

Here are some pics of the historic Sigma units I referred to above. The roll-a-change is on a palette 30 feet up, so that was the best pic I could get.