Steve Frater and Walter Grubmuller

Pioneering gaming duo receive industry recognition award

2013-05-22
Reading time 1:13 min
(UK).- Steve Frater and Walter Grubmuller, the duo responsible for pioneering the introduction of B2 gaming machines into Licensed Betting Offices, received the prestigious Recognition of Industry Contribution Award at the Betview Magazine annual ceremony in London last 2nd May.

The awards congratulate and praise those who have achieved excellence in the betting and gaming industry.

Frater and Grubmuller founded The Global Draw in 1998 and introduced automated machine numbers betting into their Admiral betting office chain the same year. Starting with only a few machines, the business grew to a 10,000 machine operation by the time it was acquired by Scientific Games in 2006. With Scientific Games’ acquisition of the Barcrest Group in 2011, the combined entity has come together as SG Gaming and is a leading gaming solutions provider in the U.K., operating nearly 30,000 machines in Licensed Betting Offices, Bingo Clubs and Arcades across the UK.  

Frater commented, “Our original aim was to develop a product that allowed us to compete with the National Lottery and give our shops the edge over our bookmaking competitors. However, with the change to gross profits tax in 2001 and the introduction of Roulette onto the machines, it soon became clear this was not going to be something we could keep for ourselves. We decided to become machine suppliers and sold our betting shops. Gaming machines have become a substantial and critical part of the Licensed Betting Office product offering and without them many shops would be unviable.  As a business we continue to innovate our product offering and to be at the forefront of the industry.”

Grubmuller added: “It is a great honour to be acknowledged by our peers in the industry, many of whom Steve and I have worked with over the years and we would like to thank all those bookmakers who have supported us from the beginning.”

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