Joc Pececnik, founder, Interblock.
The business career of Joc Pececnik, founder of Slovenia-based company Elektroncek and the Interblock brand of electronic multiplayers, started back in 1990.
“I was involved in the PC assembling business and later I developed our own POS computer system, which still has a reputation as a market leader in the supply of systems for the catering sector,” he told InterGaming.
His first experience in the gaming industry relates to the Sega Bingo machine. “I was called and asked by a local casino to fix the damaged computer inside the multiplayer. I was told by the operator how expensive the price was for a pretty simple product and I was shocked.
“Afterwards I went to the casino a few times and I was able to recognise that roulette was the most popular game. Then I decided to build our own first ETG with a roulette game. Together with my initial team we launched the first ETG roulette back in January of 1997.
“I was an open-minded young man, always seeking new opportunities. I had entrepreneurial vision already at a very early age and I always knew that my higher goals would lead me through a stormy but interesting period of my life.”
Historically, he says, tables with traditional games such as roulette, dice, blackjack, baccarat and poker, formed the start of gaming industry as we know it today. “It is quite interesting that even with new technology and all the possibilities it has enabled these games still represent the core of the industry today.
“What did change in the last decade was the fact that people nowadays see technology as their friend and companion, making things easier for all of us. I still remember my early days in gaming when our electromechanical multiplayer machines were seen as novelties without a particularly bright and long future ahead of them. Today, however, they are seen as a perfect combination of traditional games played for centuries and the possibilities that their integration with the latest technologies offers.”
He said that Interblock will conclude a very intensive three-year development programme this year, thus enabling it to grow in the next few years, “if we will continue to progress according to our plans that were determined in 2011. If there are no unexpected world events, I expect excellent growth in our companies over the next five years since the number of rented gaming products is growing every month in the US and sales in Europe and Asia seem to be shaping up very positively.
Read the full article in the May issue of InterGaming
