Sceptre Leisure founder Ken Turner passes aged 68

Ken Turner, founder and CEO of Sceptre Leisure, which grew into the second largest machine operating company in the UK, has passed away after a sudden illness.

At one time rising to directorship at some notable UK companies including Crown Leisure and Direct Machine Distributors, Turner started Sceptre Leisure at Bamber Bridge, near Preston, Lancashire, in 1998.

He rapidly expanded the machine operation, winning a number of substantial rental contracts in the pub AWP (Category C) market. He took Sceptre to the stock market with an AIM listing in 2008.

In 2013 the company had an operation encompassing ovger 21,000 pieces of equipment, second only to Gamestec Leisure in the country.

The Gauselmann Group took a minority interest in Sceptre in that year and a year later completed a total aquisition of Sceptre, re-naming it Regal Gaming, subsequently Regal Gaming Technologies.

Turner was to remain there for another year before resigning to pursue his other interests in property management and pub operations.

Regal’s current managing director, Matt Bicknell, said: “Ken Turner was pivotal in my career. I worked with him for 25 years.

“He built a huge single site operation from scratch which was no mean achievement. I am very sad at his passing.”

Ken Turner lived in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire. He leaves a wife, Sue, son James and daughter Zoe.