from Casino Life Magazine
January 2018
Celebrating their 20th anniversary this summer will be Casino Adjara, the oldest and trendiest casino in the heart of the Tbilisi. Drawing regular guests from both a strong local base and neighboring countries, Casino Adjara is considered the place to play in Georgia.
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| Casino Life Magazine January 2018 |
[CL] Can you give us a bit on your background? What got you into the casino industry and how did you progress to Casino Adjara?
[VB] I was born and brought up in Dubrovnik, Croatia where I started working in the Casino as a dealer during my studies in Economic University. In the early nineties I was forced to move from my home town due to war escalation in the region. After moving to a couple of cities, I was invited to Moscow to join an ex colleague of mine in one small casino project. That turned out to be a crucial moment in my career and life in general, as soon after my arrival in Moscow I started working for Solna Leisure, Management Company which was running Moscow’s most popular casino “Metelitsa”. I started as Assistant Pit Boss and during 14 years I progressed through the whole management structure.
Unfortunately in July 2009 we were forced to close our operation due to well known law which was created by Russian Government to ban all casinos on Russian territory. Soon after closure of Metelitsa, Solna Leisure together with our partner decided to purchase Casino Adjara, the most renowned gambling operation in Georgia and we have successfully run it for over 8 years.
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| Left to Right: Vedran Bajat Managing Director Casino Adjara Justin Whitcroft General Manager at Casino Adjara Ian Livingstone CEO at Solna Leisure Holding Ltd |
[CL] How long has Casino Adjara been serving the gaming market in Tbilisi?
[VB] Casino Adjara will be celebrating its 20th Anniversary in June 2018 which makes it longest operating gaming operation in Georgia. It is a great achievement, as it would be hard to find many Companies that operate for such a long time on Georgian market. Knowing that the gaming business doesn’t belong to the list of long lasting businesses in this part of world Casino Adjara should be even more proud of its achievement.
[CL] As Casino Adjara will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in the summer of 2018, will there be a celebratory event?
[VB] Yes, we plan to organize two days celebration on 15th &16th of July with outdoor and indoor entertainment and lottery with prize fund 500.000GEL (around 200.000 USD)
[CL] How does Casino Adjara rank in terms of Georgian casinos?
[VB] Maybe I will sound biased but I strongly believe that Casino Adjara is the best casino in a currently highly competitive Georgian market. With its 37 gaming tables and 250 slots it is the largest operation as well. Average daily attendance of 1300 visitors puts Casino Adjara on the top of the list according to these parameters.
[VB] Casino Adjara consists of 3 gaming floors with total size of 2500 m.
[CL] Regarding demographics, where do most of the players come from? As the casino is in the heart of Tblisi, Is there much of an international draw?
[VB] Casino Adjara has a strong local customer base but it also attract clients from surrounding countries, many of which don’t have casinos operating on their territory. So we are proud to say that we have a lot of regular customers from Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iran, Iraq, UAE, Qatar and several other countries in the region.
[VB] Unfortunately we don’t do much in structured and organized way where all Casinos act jointly to reduce side effects of our activity. We were actively participating in Responsible gaming program in Moscow for many years but in Georgia we try to work individually with gamblers that show signs of irresponsible gambling.
[CL] How many table games and slots are available to guests?[VB] We offer 37 live gaming tables including 4 stud poker tables. On slots side we offer 180 slot machines from various popular brands and 70 electronic roulette stations where players can play simultaneously on two automated and one manual roulette wheel.
[CL] What are the casino's more popular table games?
[VB] Roulette is traditionally the most popular game in this market but different variations of poker are also very popular among our customers. Surprisingly, Blackjack popularity is far behind roulette and poker.
[VB] No we don’t organize tournaments on live games or slot machines. On the other hand we invest a lot into different lotteries on live games and slots, offering a wide range of prizes which are aimed at attracting everybody starting from small players and finishing with high rollers. For example, for the next 6 months lottery cycle we budgeted around 1.9 million Lari (cca. 750.000 USD). On stud poker we organize regular Cash Festivals which are highly appreciated by our local and foreign players.
[CL] How active are the restaurants & bars at the casino. Are they a large draw?
[VB] We have by one restaurant and bar on each gaming floor and they are usually quite busy. We do quite a lot of complementary services to our regular players which obviously increase activity there.
[CL] Are Casino Adjara and the Holiday Inn Tbilisi part of the same corporate group? Is there a marketing cooperation between the two?
[VB] No, Casino Adjara and Holiday Inn are different companies but we maintain a close business relationship which is of mutual benefit. From time to time we have some joint marketing efforts.
[CL] How active is the casino in social media?
[VB] We are obviously presented in social media but frankly we don’t invest enough into that kind of promotion.
Casino Life would like to thank Vedran Bajat for his time and insight in contributing to this interview.
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