A globally recognized industry leader, Gaming Partners International provides an un-paralleled suite of innovative and state-of-the-art suite of table game products. This strategy is evident in the company’s early beginnings and recent expansions. In 2014, GPI acquired Gemaco Inc. further expanding the company’s playing card and layout offerings and market reach. And most recently in May of 2016, the company completed the purchase of the gaming currency assets and manufacturing equipment of Hong Kong based Dolphin Products Limited.
With one of the most comprehensive product portfolios in the industry, GPI is the only provider that manufactures all of its core product offerings which includes gaming currency, playing cards, dice, table layouts and gaming furniture. GPI is also the industry leading supplier of RFID currency, RFID products and solutions providing both traditional high frequency PJM technology and its own exclusive, SMART RFID.
The company is probably best known for its popular gaming currency brands; BG, Paulson and Bud Jones. Each brand offers its own unique set of characteristics and currency security features. The BG brand includes European-style plaques and jetons, the J3, and seven different injection molded chip types including their brand new V-Series. The Bud Jones brand offers 11 injection molded chip types and the Paulson brand offers clay composite, compression-molded chips.
We got an opportunity to chat with Gregory Gronau, President & CEO to discuss some of GPI’s most recent events and its product innovations.
CI: You recently expanded your layout offerings into Europe and Asia.
How was this accomplished?
GG: The Gemaco acquisition provided us layout and playing card access in Asia, something that we lacked previously. We
now provide paper and plastic playing cards and the same full graphic
layouts that we offer our customers in the Americas. In addition, we also have the ability to produce upholstered armrests for gaming tables for our Asian customers.
Once we had layout manufacturing capabilities in Asia, it only made sense to extend the same service and access to our European market so we augmented our manufacturing capabilities in France to also include the production of full graphic layouts.
CI: GPI positions many of its product offerings as ‘innovative’. What makes your products innovative or any product truly innovative?
GG: To be innovative, it’s not a matter of just coming up with something new. A product should successfully fill a need or provide customers a solution that streamlines their operations in a manner that stands out from all the other choices they have available. GPI has the knowledge and many, many years of expertise to do just that. Our products are market driven, so we invest a significant amount of human and capital resources into the research and development of our product offerings.
For example, gaming currency is essentially a casino’s money so currency security is extremely important to our customers. We offer an unmatched selection of currency security features across our currency brands. Two of our most recent currency security innovations include SecuriFilm and 3-in-1 UV.
In Asia, we were reaching a point of exhausting our available injection molded chip designs. However, instead of just adding new patterns to our existing lines, we took it a few steps further and developed a completely new chip produced with a brand new injection material formula, our BG V-Series. What makes the V-Series so innovative and unique is the versatility in which customers can design their racks. The new injection material includes ChipShield, an antifungal, as a standard. ChipShield keeps chips cleaner longer which means there is less need for operators to take them out of play for cleaning.
CI: You just completed the purchase of Dolphin Products last month and two years ago, you purchased Gemaco. What type of impact has that had on GPI and what drove those decisions?
GG: The Dolphin purchase, was a decision that fell in line with our overall strategy of providing our customers the most robust suite of products available in the industry. The Dolphin brand of currency complements our gaming currency portfolio. The consolidation of the Dolphin manufacturing assets into our existing plants, will also allow us to enhance the service we provide our customers.
The Gemaco acquisition in 2014 helped expand our product reach globally. It increased our manufacturing capabilities both domestically and internationally and the addition of the layout and playing card lines to our portfolio increased our market share and recurring revenue in these segments. We have become a major player in the playing card market in North America as a result. The purchase also allowed us to supplement recurring layout sales and related services to our Asia Pacific offerings. The combination of products, talent and expertise gave GPI a greater ability to support our global customers’ ongoing table game product needs while expanding our customer support network.
CI: What’s next for GPI?
GG: We take on challenges and opportunities. We will continue to work with our partner customers so that we continually to offer the most extensive and innovative product selection available with exceptional customer service. We are leaders in our industry and will do what it takes for our customers.
For more information or to learn more about GPI, please visit www.gpigaming.com
