Neil Coates, who had a long history in the UK coin machine industry beginning with the Peter Simper Organisation in 1985 and ending with Electrocoin, has died aged 72.
Neil had been ill for a number of years and was eventually in a nursing home where he died on Saturday, May 20. In 1989 he formed PCP (Powell, Coates and Powell) Micro Products. He joined Electrocoin to form the Famous Games brand that was subsequently fully incorporated into the Electrocoin Group, but had headed up PCP until 2008.
He took ill shortly after that and was in a nursing home in Bath for many years. Neil Coates leaves a wife, Marion, two sons and several grandchildren.
The funeral details are not yet known.
John Stergides of Electrocoin, paid a personal tribute to Neil:
“I first met Neil when he was working at Peter Simper in 1980s from where the PCP brand was first established. Neil was developing and creating new games for many markets and in 1989 PCP and Electrocoin established the Famous Games brand which was then incorporated into the Electrocoin Group of Companies.
Together, we, along with Spyros Sparsis and then later with Andy Dinning and other members of the team travelled as far as Brazil, Kazakhstan, many eastern European states as well Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway and African countries to create new games and new markets for the AWP product, designing games for each individual country to comply with the local rules and regulations. Neil had an understanding and feel for the needs and potential of each country that was second to none.
The team in Bath led by Neil was always ready to take advantage at any time with speed and perfection to satisfy customer requirements with games that worked for our customers and players alike.
Neil was famous for developing enjoyable low stake and low prize games. He always said that the players must have fun and a smile when they play our games and he was right.
The new Gaming Act in 2005 changed the AWP sector and the whole industry and very shortly after that Neil was hit with a medical condition. Sadly, a great creator and inventor had to withdraw to a special nursing home where he stayed until the day that he passed away.
The industry has lost a legend, but Neil’s smiling face will be a lasting memory to his friends and all who knew him. May he rest in peace.”
Image: (from left) Neil Coates, Martin Beck, and John Stergides
