An old-school icon of the gaming industry in the US, Mickey Wichinsky, died on Friday last week, aged 90. Wichinsky was a major designer of gaming machines throughout his working life and never stopped working on new ideas right up to his death.
He first appeared in the casino scene in Las Vegas in the mid-1950s when he was a partner in the Sands Casino and was noted for installing the first Bally slot machines there. He subsequently became a distributor for Bally in northern Nevada.
Wichinsky started Games of Nevada in the mid-1970s and with that company launched a number of notable successes, including Flip-It and the Bally Classic. In 2010 he sold Games of Nevada to Cantor Gaming.
He was recently awarded the Nevada Gaming Commission Lifetime Achievement Award for 50 years’ service to the Nevada gaming industry.
