News

May 2006 - Industry systems pioneer heading south

Michael and Linda Grimwood have announced their formal retirement from MRG Systems, the company they formed in 1983, and intend to emigrate to Australia. Here, Michael reflects on the changes he’s seen in a twenty-year career that saw the firm begin in a spare bedroom and garage to become a major supplier to Paddy Power and Coral.

Looking back - Michael Grimwood

We had exceptional results in 2005. I’m excited for the company, because we are going through yet another period where our design ideas and their delivery to market has captured people’s imagination in just the same way as when we started in the early eighties. However, Linda and I feel that it’s time to move on – to a different sort of challenge.

During the company’s lifetime, we have seen bookies’ systems develop from a 12 screen teletext system to one which supports up to 32 screens, changes channels on the TVs and also provides a picture-in-picture facility. Back in the early days when screen systems were first being put into shops I remember the Extel ‘Colour’ system. This seemed to be a number of black and white TVs with different colour transparencies stuck on the front of them!

Things have moved on quite a bit since then. Sophisticated display systems provide each bookmaker with a completely different look and feel replicating their brand image on screen. It can also be changed over air without anybody visiting the shop. Just look out for the new Coral and Paddy Power screens being launched in time for the World Cup.

Betting-in-running has become a great opportunity for bookies and their customers alike but, as it’s even more immediate, the method of updating the information has to be as straightforward as possible. For example, allowing a trader to set a price on a simple spreadsheet and then, by pressing a key, to display this on all or any screens in the estate.

If you remember, before SIS, the old betting shops had a single loudspeaker running from a telephone line that provided a less than perfect sound quality. Companies like ours now provide amplifiers capable of providing different zones of sound and driving an induction loop for the hard of hearing. This can all be controlled from a central site to switch each zone to one of the available sound sources within the shop. They’re even capable of receiving audio via the internet to allow special offers to be announced in different areas of the country. How things have changed since the old days.

And silks…the customer had to go and look at The Racing Post hanging from a nail on the wall. Not only are they displayed automatically now but, if, for any reason, a silk is missing, it can be generated by a ‘Silks Editor’ and stored against the horse for the future.

From male-dominated back street shops to sophisticated and comfortable social areas – betting shops have come a long way. I cannot stress enough how fortunate we have been with our clients who have helped us enormously over the years. They have enabled us to keep up the development of our BIDS software, with its unique scheduling facility, AV300 display units and AVS500 amplifiers which are at the forefront of bookies technology - automating much of their business to allow their shop managers to provide the personal touch to their customers.

It’s been a great ride with many hurdles on the way but now it’s time for us to pass onto the next management team - two of whom, Bryan Corbin and Ivan Judd, have been with the company since virtually the beginning. We wish them as much success and pleasure as we have had.