The first bill validator we made in 1981 was for Japanese yen only.
We then turned our attention to US dollars, the world’s highest volume currency, and succeeded in developing a bill validator for US dollars. Taking this opportunity, we began to change our focus from the manufacture of cash registers and safes to the creation of specialized products for worldwide currencies including yen with validation and identification technology.
When we first entered the US market, the share of the major manufacturers was overwhelming, and so we concentrated our marketing efforts on a narrow target segment. Our main products change machines for changing bills to coins for gaming. One of the reasons for this was that in casinos in the US at that time, regulation permitted only play with coins.
Then, on hearing that a “revision to state law will permit use of bills in slot machines in the near future”, we suggested jointly developing bill acceptor units for incorporation in games machines to International Game Technology (IGT), the largest games machine manufacturer in the US.
At that time, though sales results in the US were still poor, our record of providing deutschmark acceptors and validators for games machine manufacturers in Germany and our repeated visits from Japan with sample machines and numerous explanations were convincing enough to persuade IGT to proceed with the joint project. With information from IGT, we were able to find out more about ways of preventing illegal activity in casinos and about staff and operator efficiency. What we learned was then incorporated into our products.
We made a number of unique advances. For example, to ensure that no illegal activity took place during cash processing, we created a system whereby collecting cash and machine maintenance required the presence of more than one staff member, and a procedure whereby bills were stored in a cassette that held a predetermined amount and the cassette was removed when full. These systems were highly acclaimed and JCM technology was employed by IGT, which holds the largest share in the US gaming market. From that point onwards, JCM products and operating systems became popular with casinos and amusement facilities the world over. Since that time, casino hall operations have been in import part of JCM business, and we are proud to maintain a large share of the market.
The gaming market is a difficult market due to strict regulation and entry controlled through licensing. For example, in the US, casinos are strictly controlled by gaming commissions under the jurisdiction of state and regional authorities. To sell gaming machines, manufacturers must undergo a strict auditing processing to be granted permission.
While granting criteria differ from state to state, auditing is always strict. It includes an investigation of the applicant company’s results and current position and even checks on private information such as the personal assets and criminal records of the executives.
The JCM Group have cleared all of such regulatory hurdles and hold licenses throughout the world. Currently, we hold more than 190 gaming-related licenses in North America.
