Eurocoin celebrating 40 years in business at ICE 2014

Just over 40 years ago in 1973, Thomas Veitch had a vision. Searching for a name for his start-up coin mechanism business, he envisaged a time in the future when the countries of Europe would adopt a common currency and, with remarkable foresight, predicted that the authorities might name this the ‘Euro’…..On 25th September 1973, he registered his new business as ‘Eurocoin Ltd’.

As history shows, after much European Union disagreement, the ‘Euro’ name was adopted only in December 1995, paving the way for the roll-out of the single currency on 1st January 1999. The Eurocoin team arrive at ICE 2014 very proud of their heritage, confident of the company’s future, and grateful to their thousands of customers and supply chain partners for their support over so many years. European Sales Director Steve Smith, who joined the company in 1988, made clear the importance of these long-term relationships “To not only survive in the gaming industry, but to continue to add value after 40 years, is a real tribute to our dedicated and hard-working teams across Europe. I would like to add my personal ‘Thank You’ to our many clients who have worked with us for so many years. It’s been a real privilege being part of this journey!”

Arriving into the gaming & amusement sector from the vending machine industry in the late 1960s, Tom Veitch immediately saw an opportunity to apply his design engineer training to the world of coin handling. Early success in coin mechanism sales and service was followed quickly by Tom’s launch of the Eurocoin security token range, which transformed the cash security issues plaguing UK AWP sector in the 1970s and ‘80s. The company’s accelerated growth and diversification began in 1984, as sons Nick and Colin Veitch both joined the business, despite some family instructions to the contrary…”Our mother, Eileen, was already the Eurocoin company Bookkeeper, and had told us both that she would rather we pursued a career as a Doctor & a Dentist!” recalled Colin with a smile “As you can see, neither Nick nor I adopted that particular piece of career advice, and 30 years later we are still enjoying our roles at Eurocoin, having made life-long friends through work around the world”.

The company made major strides forward in the 1980s, diversifying into a major components & spare parts distribution business plus setting up a subsidiary to launch the new IGT slot machine product line across Europe and Africa – a business which was successfully sold back to IGT in 1992. Post-1992, the company has focussed entirely on building long-term commercial partnerships with world-class technology manufacturers such as 3M, Kortek, TransAct Technologies, JCM Global and Motorola – selling, servicing and supporting their products across Europe & Africa with an increasingly expanded presence. The past decade has been characterised by the company’s expansion with strategic partners, opening offices in Italy, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Serbia to take the Eurocoin brands into the heart of the major growth markets for gaming and non-gaming.

“40 years is quite a milestone” agreed Managing Director Nick Veitch “but I’m sure everyone who knows us will not be surprised to hear we’re totally focussed on future challenges and opportunities! Technology is certainly not standing still, nor is regional legislation. As visitors to ICE will see, we are looking to continue to offer valuable and cost-effective solutions to our many clients, hoping that they will, once again, chose to take their next steps forward with Eurocoin as a trusted supplier!”.

“Tom will be attending ICE 2014, and he and the whole Eurocoin team are looking forward to catching up with the company’s many friends from around the world, and saying a sincere ‘Thank You’ for your support” concluded Colin. “Please join us at any time on stand N5-120 – we will be very pleased to see you”.