TCS John Huxley chairman Bertil Knutsson recently received the Outstanding Contribution Award at the fifth International Gaming Awards.
He was honoured at the annual gala award dinner held on January 23 at the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel in London, among leading figures of the international gaming community.
The award, which has seen past recipients include Dr Stanley Ho and Andrew Love, recognises the influence Knutsson has had on the gaming industry. In a career spanning more than 60 years, he is one of the industry’s most influential characters. Born in 1932 as the youngest of four children, he was brought up in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Developing a keen interest in boxing when he was younger, he was an international boxing referee and became a promoter of professional boxing events featuring legends such as Sonny Liston. He also promoted other sporting events such as The Harlem Globetrotters and the tennis tournament WCT, which hosted legendary players such as Björn Borg, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Ilie Nastase and Rod Laver.
It was not until 1959 that he started in the gaming industry, operating casinos in Sweden. However, Sweden soon became too small for his visions and in the early 1980s he branched out to international market. It was at this time he invented the ground-breaking chip sorting machine, the Chipper Champ, which changed the face of gaming floors worldwide. In 2001, with his partners, he formed a company introducing Ladbrokes eGaming into the Nordic countries. Within five years the company recruited over 300,000 new members, making around 40 per cent of Ladbrokes eGaming’s total poker revenues. Among many others, he and his family are also major shareholders in Betsson AB and Net Entertainment.
In 2003 TCS acquired John Huxley and TCS John Huxley was born. The company continues to be at the forefront of the supply and manufacture of live table gaming equipment and goes from strength to strength in this competitive arena. On receiving the award, Knutsson commented: “I am overwhelmed and extremely delighted to receive this honour. It is very satisfying to be acknowledged not only for my achievements to the gaming industry, but also the varied other work I have been involved with over the years.”
