TCS John Huxley's John Galajsza tells David Snook that he's come a long way from selling cardboard boxes for a living.

John Galajsza was at an exclusive Mayfair casino in London one Friday in mid-May this year almost exactly 30 years to the day that he made his first visit there, to fit table layouts.

"I was with Jeff Lindsay," he said, "and I had just joined John Huxley." Galajsza, these days business development director at TCS John Huxley, has a wealth of stories of the early days and the days since then, travelling the world to open up markets for the company’s products.

Regarded as a ‘colourful character’ within the industry, a description used with affection and respect, it should be emphasised Galajsza viewed his 30 years in the industry with the kind of genuine enthusiasm which can only come from someone who thoroughly enjoys the job.

His value to TCS John Huxley is underscored by CEO David Heap’s unhesitating recommendation: "If you are going to write about anyone from this company, it must be John Galajsza."

And it was appropriate, with such a notable anniversary, and a fascinating experience to spend an hour listening to some rich and varied experiences of one man’s lifetime of travelling through the development of the casino industry in 60-plus countries.

"I worked in a bookmaker’s office," said Galajsza, "but decided on a career‚ so changed to a bank. I was very bored, so I did a correspondence course in selling. It was a very outdated course because it recommended things like remembering to remove my bowler hat when I arrived at a customer’s office! That course got me a job selling cardboard boxes and in my first week my boss and I pulled on to a car park in Edmonton, London, and we decided to cold call on the first company we came to on the right. That was John Huxley.

"I visited a few times to sell boxes to them and they suggested I talked with Jeff Lindsay about a job there. Being only 23, unsurprisingly he gave me a hard time to begin with, but when he discovered that I had done my homework on the company and its competitors he decided to give me a chance because I had gone the extra mile."

The job worked out, however, and Galajsza toured the UK and European casinos, often in company with Lindsay for training purposes. "I remember he sent me to a casino in Monte Carlo to talk to them about a roulette wheel, but the owner was unapproachable on that day and his people recommended that I just wait. I had two days there and 50 francs in my pocket which got me nowhere… So I just spent each of the next two days in the casino, talking to the staff and sitting around. When I got in front of the great man he didn’t give me an order for the roulette wheel, but said that because I’d shown tenacity and persistence, I could take away an order to fully equip a new casino! It was worth £70,000, a huge amount of money in those days. Jeff nearly fell off his chair!"

Galasjza is full of these stories and it helps to explain his success. Despite a desire for self-deprecation, Galasjza, when pushed, will explain his success in the business. "It is a very long-term thing. I got to know a lot of people, generally through foot-slogging around the world; built up personal relationships through which trust grew. There is no fast-track to success in supplying the casino industry, it is all about building relationships. In some cases it may have taken years for that relationship to mature to the point where orders followed, but they did in time."

The best thing he ever did in his career? "I suppose it is stopping at the first factory/office on that trading estate in Edmonton when I was supplying cardboard boxes, but that’s probably more fate. It would perhaps be my first million-pound order, a renovation of Casino Du Liban, Lebanon. It was after 20 years of civil war, when no one else in the company wanted to travel there. But it has to be said that there is huge satisfaction in every order, especially in seeing that order manifest itself into a completed and successful project."

His biggest mistake? "Back in the John Huxley days, we had a world exclusive outside of the US for Bud Jones chips and in about 2000 Bud wanted to retire. We should have bought that company, but for one reason or another we didn’t. It was snapped up by another company. Big mistake!"

But for every mistake there were half-a-dozen triumphs. "It has been a wonderful industry and a wonderful experience and privilege to be in it," said Galajsza. "I have stayed in some of the most glamorous hotels and the most glamorous destinations in the world and worked with people who have become multi-millionaires, but they have always remained friends and while I may not be a millionaire financially, there are few so rich in experience and memories."

Galajsza is a firm believer in the tight-knit community undercurrent that works within the industry between the real ‘insiders’ - those who have a track record and a demonstrated long-term career attitude. "It is really a cottage industry. I always say it is ‘same faces different places’ because people you know tend to go off the radar but re-appear somewhere else in the world."

He has seen markets open and close - fortunately most opening and staying open. "Jurisdictions tend to open one casino, get their regulations adjusted and then open more as the authorities realise what a good income stream can come from the industry. I watched Egypt grow from one casino in a five-star hotel to the Nile becoming the Vegas Strip with 16 casinos in Cairo alone. I remember Australia starting up and South Africa, and was involved in all of them. In almost every location I find people I know, who have grown up in the UK casino industry, for example, and been recruited to bring their experience into new jurisdictions.

"In many cases these new territories built their foundations on the expertise and talent that came from the highly regulated UK industry. With new start-ups those managers were able to stamp their own identities on the content, the machines, the live games; that’s when it gets really interesting and can also be most rewarding for that long-term relationship you have built up. I take nothing for granted, however, and have to ensure that the relationship built up painfully over such a long period is not spoiled by any failing on our part."

How is the industry changing? "In many ways. I thought that internet gambling might impact the bricks and mortar casino business, but it hasn’t. Those who go to a casino seek an experience; those who gamble online seek to win. They are totally different, but the land-based casino does help to introduce the armchair player, giving him confidence and an understanding of how games are played."

Galajsza feels that the business is moving towards a situation where technology is being used as an aide to the live game experience.

"Automation will not take over. But it can help. A French roulette table needs four staff; the American roulette table got that down to two. But staff remains the biggest cost-factor for an operator. Now we have moved on to use technology to augment what a dealer or croupier does." He illustrates the point with the TCS John Huxley MultiPLAY Roulette which enables one staff member to handle up to 21 players at a time. "If the dealer is not having to calculate winning bets then he/she has more opportunity to interact with the players. The table makes all of the calculations instead; this is what technology can do and MultiPLAY is a good example of how automation can assist the house in better and more welcoming treatment of guests, whilst maximising cost efficiency and improving security. MultiPLAY is only one of a number of examples of the same trend coming into the business."

The 2003 merger of TCS with John Huxley worked seamlessly for Galajsza. "I don’t remember any periods of ‘them and us’ within the ranks of the two companies, probably because the two businesses didn’t really compete. I used to say that TCS ‘supplied everything with a plug on it’ while John Huxley sold everything else, mainly live tables. We really only crossed one-another when John Huxley started selling the Chipper 2000 - another example of technology helping operators at which some turned their noses up, but now they are regarded as indispensable. Until then, TCS and John Huxley had operated in parallel.

"That merger meant that the two businesses could dovetail perfectly. I was able to go out and sell everything, a turnkey package, for the first time."
The lifetime of travelling has slowed a little for Galajsza. The company now has local offices in many countries so his role is more clearly defined as key account management and developing new markets. "But many of the people I grew up with in business terms are still there, and I therefore have my own circle of customers who only deal with me for new build projects. But yes, I probably have more air miles than a satellite."

So what is a typical day for John?  "It isn’t a 9-5 industry, as we all know. The owners and top management only come out at night, when their best customers are there, so you have to be there too. But it is more corporate these days, with fewer individual owners. Nevertheless, you have to always be available and my phone is never switched off.  There isn’t a typical day."

The stories of the ‘rich and famous’ are an inevitable part of any conversation with Galajsza and there are far too many to record here. However, for those unfamiliar with the James Bond epic, the ‘potted down version’ is that the making of Casino Royale inevitably needed equipment and technical advice. Galajsza was the equally inevitable choice and TCS John Huxley equipment was used for the movie and John spent many hours on location. "You would not believe the waiting around you do in the movie industry; I used to play poker with some of the ‘villains’ in the movie, in between sets. We never played for more than $50 but had great fun." The upshot is that he got a ‘bit-part’ in the movie and for those who don’t believe it, John can proudly display a still from the film with him playing his ironic role of casino manager of Casino Royale. But for the company, it was a huge publicity opportunity and one that was not missed.

How do you sum it all up? Luke Davis, head of marketing at TCS John Huxley, did better than I: "John has been at the forefront of live table gaming development for 30 years. He’s worked all over the globe on the biggest named projects and the most luxurious of venues. A walking ‘who’s who’ of gaming, his contacts are unmatched and his experience and anecdotes are legendary." For once, a marketing man didn’t exaggerate.