Coin-op amusements news | Pennington retires from Sega Amusements

Sega Amusements International is to lose commercial director Roger Pennington after 31 years’ service, as he goes into retirement.

Pennington has a background that stretches back to his joining Deith Leisure as financial controller in 1990, a company that was subsequently taken over by Sega. Under Bob Deith, that company grew to enjoy a turnover of £100m annually.

He remained with the company after it was rationalised in 1999 and reduced in size to reflect the contraction then apparent in the industry and for the next 20 years Pennington worked closely with CEO Paul Williams.

“It has been an enjoyable 20-plus years working with Paul and building a fresh team,” he said. “We have seen our own game development grow and no longer depend solely on Sega Japan for games. Rebranding the company into Sega Amusement International a few years ago and focusing on becoming an international company, selling machines from third parties as well, was the right move.”

He paid tribute to the accounting staff he leaves behind, notably Siraj Elkhawad, who has been with Pennington for many years and is now named as finance director.

In recent years, Pennington has worked closely with Dave Barnham, developing the operations division that has grown significantly with several thousand machines on site in the UK and Europe.

Paul Williams said: “Roger has been by my side for the past 20-plus years through the good times and the bad ties brought about by the ups and downs of this industry that we all love and enjoy. He has been an integral part of the company throughout. I want to personally thank him for all his hard work; we will all miss him.”