RePlay Magazine Podcast - Interview with Bob Geschine
RePlay Magazine Podcast - Interview with Bob Geschine
The RePlay Podcast returns with an interesting and insightful chat with Bob Geschine, president and CEO of H. Betti Industries. Bob, a recent recipient of Amusement Industry Hall of Fame honors from...
Highlights
- Betson Enterprises is 91 years old and in its fourth generation of family leadership
- Bob Geschke has been president of Betson for 25 years (since late 1990s) with 50 years total tenure
- In 1999, Midway closed and Geschke purchased 10,000 program chips and established a royalty agreement to manufacture games
- Betson Enterprises challenged and eliminated exclusive territorial distribution in the amusement industry
- Betson Technical University has graduated 'thousands of technicians' in the past 7-8 years
- Betson Enterprises represents Light and Wonder (Scientific Games) exclusively in four states with video lottery terminals (Georgia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Nebraska)
- Less than 1% of businesses survive and thrive into the fourth generation
- Early 2010s skill-based gaming trend was a regretted era for the industry that risked turning FECs into casinos
Notable quotes
“Life is good, Randy.”
“This business has been built up to perpetuate. And I think when you have a lovely family who wants to – there's no guarantee the next generation wants to come in. But fortunately, the next generation loved the business, commends the business.”
“We just blew up the whole territory thing. And, you know, eventually over time, most manufacturers, all manufacturers followed suit because they saw it as a tool to sell more product.”
“Thank God it's Monday. That excellent. Thank God it's Monday.”
“If you love what you do, you never work a day in your life.”
“I never looked at how many employees I looked at, how many people are in the families of the employees I had. And they're relying on their CEO to make the right decisions.”
“If you don't get the CEO position, If the guy at top, if you don't get that right, nothing else matters. You can't fix it.”
Entities
- Betson Enterprises· company
- Light and Wonder (formerly Scientific Games)· company
- Midway Games· company
- American Amusement Machine Association (AMA)· organization
- Betson Technical University· organization
- RePlay Magazine· organization
- Bert Betty· person
- Bob Geschke· person
- Eugene Jarvis· person
- George Smith· person
- Kristen (Geschke)· person
- Peter Betty· person
- Randy Chilton· person
- Robert Jr. (Geschke)· person
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