According to the Spanish publication Azar, one of the most notable personalities from the Spanish coin machine industry, Juan Padrón, died on Sunday, aged 81.

Padrón ran an operation which at one time employed 1,200 staff, mostly in the Canary Islands and mainly during the early years of the Spanish coin machine industry.

He opened up Spanish Sahara to gaming machines before they were taken out of the law following the handing over of the territory to Morocco in 1975. Padrón then moved to the Canaries and he partnered with another pioneer of the early Spanish gaming machine industry, Juan Paredes, to form the Jupama Group.