Authorities Appear Unmoved by Striking Live-Casino Dealers in Georgia

The LABOR trade union in Georgia took their ongoing fight with Evolution Gaming, asking the government to intervene. (Image: courtesy of LABOR) 

TBILISI, GEORGIA – Striking employees of the online casino company Evolution held two rallies on Monday. The first was outside a government building next to Parliament. Then they marched to the Palace of the Princess Orbeliani, where the current president lives and works. But they were met with complete indifference everywhere, according to the chairman of the LABOR trade union, Giorgi Diasamidze.

“There was not a single person in the government building or in the presidential administration who would come out to talk to us,” Diasamidze told Casinos.com. “But we left our statements in both places.”

Big Profits, Sub-Poverty Wages

The LABOR Union, a collective of agriculture, trade and industry workers in Georgia, and EVO-Union, a group of Evolution employees, organized the rallies attended by about 50 Evolution strikers. A few dozen protestors from the UNI Global Union joined them in support. 

Evolution Gaming, a publicly traded company based in Stockholm, Sweden, is the global leader in providing live-dealer online casino games. They are worldwide with a presence in 19 countries (including the UK and US), but most of their games are dealt from studios in Georgia, which currently employs about 7,000 workers.

Up to 800 at Evolution Georgia, the largest Evolution Gaming subsidiary, have been on strike for more than 100 days. These live-casino dealers, croupiers, shufflers and “game presenters” are protesting what they say are abysmal wages and work conditions. 

Four strikers went on hunger strike, which lasted 28 days before the last participant had to be hospitalized. 

Strikers claim Evolution's success in the online gaming sector is being built on the backs of Georgians who are paid sub-poverty wages ($1.90 to $3.50/hr) to work in unhealthy conditions for abusive bosses.

Evolution generated $1.9 billion in revenue in 2023, with about $1 billion in profit. The company seemed on track to exceed those numbers in 2024, but we won't know until Thursday, when the company conducts its 3rd-quarter public earnings call, on how the ongoing strike, which began July 12, has affected their bottom line.

Government Underreach

Earlier attempts at mediation all failed, and Evolution has refused to return to the negotiating table. This is where the strikers are asking the government to step in. 

"We staged a protest near the government building to attract the attention of the authorities and for the authorities to help solve the problems of the strikers,” Diasamidze said. 

Strikers left statements at the government building and Orbeliani Palace. 

LABOR and EVO-Union’s seven demands (abridged from a list of 40): 

• Decent and Discrimination-Free Working Conditions
• Protection of Hygiene at Workplaces
• Safe Air Temperature for Human Health
• Medical Center and Doctor on Site
• Unhindered Use of Vacation
• Compliance of Labor Contracts with the Labor Code
• Annual Indexation in Proportion to Salary Increases and Inflation

The letters were addressed to Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze and President Salome Zurabishvili. Both are facing a national election on Saturday, Oct. 26.

“We want to remind [them] that the working conditions of our strikers are unbearable,” Diasamidze said. “And the authorities are obliged to respond to our demands. We have repeatedly appealed to President Zurabishvili and are appealing again.” 

He explained how there is hope that the current president would be sympathetic to their cause as she attempts to push Georgia in a more pro-US and European direction.

“The President can make a statement and record her position on the situation at Evolution Georgia and the conditions in which young people work,” Diasamidze said. “The authorities must protect young workers and we are waiting for support from the authorities. We are waiting for a reaction to our statements."

The lack of response, Diasamidze admitted, can be disheartening. 

"The strike has been going on for 102 days, but they are not noticing us," the trade union leader said, "although words of support for our strikers are heard all over the world."

This support has recently included the Engineers of Sweden union and Unionen, Sweden’s largest trade union. They met with Evolution’s Swedish management in September to help resolve the labor dispute in Georgia only to report “zero progress.”

In the US, the powerful Culinary Union in Nevada, which represents 60,000 casino workers in Las Vegas and  the state, voiced their solidarity and appealed to regulators to reject Evolution’s bid to acquire Las Vegas-based table games company Galaxy Gaming (for $85 million) if they don’t first resolve longstanding allegations of worker abuse.

Diasamidze stressed the importance of everyone's participation in the parliamentary elections on Oct. 26. Observers pose it as a question between lawmakers who want to be more aligned with Europe and the US vs. traditionalists. 

"It is important for us that the authorities implement the will of the people,” Diasamidze said. “Create normal working conditions at enterprises so that people do not leave their country. That is why immigration is taking place, since the country has the most difficult working conditions."