Paul Gauselmann, founder and longtime Chairman of the Board of Merkur Group, died Aug. 21 at the age of 91, shortly before his 92nd birthday.
Over a 67-year career, Gauselmann built a one-man business into an international gaming company with more than 15,000 employees and turnover of approximately €2.1 billion. He also spent decades representing the interests of Germany’s gaming machine industry. Even after stepping down from the Group’s top management in 2024, he continued coming to the office twice a week for many months to oversee day-to-day operations.
Born in 1934 in Borghorst near Münster, Gauselmann lost his mother at age two and was raised by relatives in Münster, separated from his father and four brothers. He was five when World War II began and later recalled using games as a childhood escape during nights marked by air-raid sirens.
In 1950, Gauselmann graduated at the top of his class and began an apprenticeship as a telecommunications inspector. He later joined a vending machine manufacturer that imported Wurlitzer jukeboxes and developed a remote selection unit for German jukeboxes. That work led him to Harting in Espelkamp, where he was hired as a technician and, by age 26, had become head of the machine development department.
His entrepreneurial career began on the side. In 1957, while still employed, Gauselmann started working part time as a self-employed jukebox operator. By 1964, he had become fully self-employed as a gaming machine operator, and in 1974 he opened his first gaming arcade in Delmenhorst.
https://www.indiangaming.com/merkur-group-founder-paul-gauselmann-dies-at-91/