Live Casino Conquers Tbilisi - Opportunities & the Evolving Industry

Exclusive interview 

The internet often poses opportunities and problems unnoticed by the wider public. Though data security and personal privacy are fiercely discussed, the impact on individual sectors lags dangerously behind, often threatening whole industries themselves. For centuries, the human experience formed an essential aspect of betting, winning and losing money. From shady gambling houses in New York’s underground during the prohibition to luxurious state-run roulette tables in Monaco, casinos are a fundamental part of our society.

The arrival of the Internet also changed the way gambling is conducted. The friendly dealers living off the tip from successful players found their new enemy in computer-controlled algorithms offering gamblers the chance of winning from home over the World Wide Web.

The strengthened animosity and laziness, coupled with the increased numbers of players, exhibited still another problem. How can we create a personal and intimate relationship with the gamblers without forcing them to leave their couch?

Evolution Gaming found a perfect solution as they implanted the human dealer into the computer screens coalescing the bank, the player, and the gaming table wherever one desired. We set down with Jacob Claesson, Head of Operations Georgia, to pick his brain on the new production hub opened up in Tbilisi and the impact it produces on the city.

How did Evolution Gaming start off its business? What was the main motivation?

Evolution was founded in 2006 when a live gaming Internet offering in Europe was less pipe-dream, more broadband myth. The accepted view was that live gaming over the Internet - a real-time video stream of an actual live game, dealer and result - could not be offered at a sufficient service level.

Evolution had a clear vision to take the online gaming experience to the edge of what was achievable. Incorporating higher production values within a regulated environment, Evolution sought to offer an online game akin to the live gaming experience to an increasingly demanding European audience.

Did the beginning go smooth or was it rather a bumpy start? Was there an unmet niche and demand?

Evolution began life in a small studio in Riga with a handful of staff in late April 2006. During those early stages, one challenge was overcoming the perception of Live Casino as a novel addition to an online gaming site and converting it into a must-have key component. Over the course of the next decade, Evolution revolutionized the Live Casino sector and the next challenge was keeping up with the intense period of growth as the demand for our products and services continued to grow. The company, which now has studios and offices in Latvia, Malta, Romania, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Estonia, Canada and of course Georgia, has adapted perfectly to the demand.

Another challenge is staying ahead of the curve in terms of the latest technology developments. Technology, as the company name suggests, is continually evolving. Evolution’s continuous investment in the latest innovations and R&D has enabled us to push the boundaries and continue to increase the gap between our competitors and us. We are very thankful to have such talented and passionate employees working for us, who have come with us on this journey of always striving to be one step ahead.

How did you revolutionize Live Casino?

Everything in the whole Evolution package is of a uniformly world-class standard. That is what keeps us ahead of the competition and why competitors find it difficult to close the gap. That and the fact that we are constantly innovating, constantly driving ourselves forward, and never being content to sit back.

We continually push boundaries in terms of product innovation so that we can take the player experience to new levels. Examples of this include our award-winning Immersive Roulette, our Baccarat Squeeze options, Dual Play Roulette and Baccarat solutions, as well as Dream Catcher, the first title in our new game category Live Money Wheel.

The games are not the only focal point – there are so many things behind the scenes that continue to widen the gap between our competitors, such as our Game Integrity and Risk operations, which are paramount in our operations and us. This is another aspect where we have invested heavily in innovative solutions in this field and where our level of experience is difficult to beat.

How did you choose Tbilisi as the location for another production hub? 

We have been launching new tables and dedicated environments across all of our studios at an intense rate for some time. This fast pace is set to continue for the rest of this year.

As part of our commitment to ever-increasing our gap to the competition, we took the decision to establish our next major studio in Georgia to support these needs. From this studio, we will continue to expand, offering our services to additional customers and markets.

As ever when we look to open an additional facility, we do a thorough review of the market and country to find the best possible place to invest in. The decision to open in Georgia was the result of a detailed scouting operation beforehand. Tbilisi is a fast-growing city, offering strong development and investment opportunities, so it offered the perfect location for us.

We viewed a number of locations and this property was the best that met our selection criteria in terms of studio requirements, as well as in terms of future growth and development. As ever, Evolution has very ambitious growth plans and the Tbilisi studio is no exception. The Tbilisi studio will act as a service hub for multiple markets and licensees. 

The Tbilisi studio is a total of 8000 sqm and located in Didube. We are currently going through extensive works in the building in order to create a very attractive and inspiring place to work – including a free gym for all employees and a fantastic terrace.

Georgia has many casinos for its small size, did this play a role in your decision-making process? 

Not at all actually. As our licensees are located all around Europe, and it is their increasing demand that we are looking to satisfy with our studio here in Tbilisi, it did not play into the decision making. We looked for a country where we saw favorable business opportunities, in combination with a talented workforce with good English skills.

Have you ever thought of opening up a physical casino as well?

No. At Evolution our focus is purely on being the world’s leading Live Casino provider. We have 400-plus tables operating across our nine studios, as well as a growing number of Dual Play installations in land-based casinos. With our expansion into Georgia, we have ambitious growth plans for the studio for the rest of the year so that we can continue servicing our customers and providing them with the world-leading service they have come to expect.

What are the main differences in Live Casino between North America and Europe?

Historically, we have been very focused on the European market and it was only in January of this year that we opened our Live Casino studio in British Columbia, Canada. This marked a very exciting period of growth for us, as it was our first major expansion outside of Europe. It is based in the New Westminster Vancouver area of British Columbia and provides Live Casino games and services for BCLC (British Columbia Lottery Corporation).

This is an agreement of high strategic importance to Evolution and the start of a potential expansion into North America as a whole. Canada is a regulated market, where each province has its own gaming and lottery operations under government management. The studio was initially built for BCLC, but with the intention of serving other provinces over time. 

To what extent is Tbilisi different to the other locations?

Much like when we started our operations in Latvia back in 2006 there are many people that have not heard about us yet. This means we need to be active in explaining what kind of company we are and what opportunities we can offer potential future employees. We have seen that many Georgians are very excited about the idea of working for an international company. We have seen a huge interest in all our vacancies, with well over 1000 applications so far.

Are you still looking for staff? Where can prospective employees apply? 

To date, we have created 130-plus new jobs for local people and we expect to create a total of around 900 new jobs by the end of this year alone. We’re very happy to be creating this number of jobs in Georgia.

All our open positions are listed on our Career-page www.evolutiongamingcareers.com where candidates can easily browse for the open positions in Tbilisi.

Our employees are central to our business, and we are committed to providing a working environment where people want to work, challenge themselves, perform and develop a rewarding career. For most roles the only requirement is to speak English, as it is our business language, the rest we teach during paid training.

We have a strong company culture and happy that we are able to offer flexible work schedules to our employees. A large number of our employees are students who combine their studies. Of course, after they finish their studies, there is a wealth of career opportunities with us and we hope that they choose to continue their career with us at Evolution.

By Benjamin Music