scrupulous when it came to such things as under age gambling. So we will see a consolidation of the professional slots operators and this has to be a good thing for the city in general.
What is the approximate breakdown of slot machine by Manufacturer – and what are the machines that prove most popular?
further enhance the playing experience with a few more new options.
Georgia has established a reputation in recent times for having a more opaque regulatory system and encouraging business – has that applied to the gaming sector?
There has been a concerted effort for a number of years now by President Saakasvili and his government to weed out corruption throughout both the private and public sectors and he seems to have been successful. I can say that having worked in Eastern Europe for a number of years now, doing business in Georgia is much more open than many other countries and thankfully, is without the usual heavy bureaucracy. The laws are clear and precise without the usual ambiguity that is endemic to most of the old eastern block countries. So in that sense, yes, Georgia is particularly attractive for any foreign companies looking to start up in the region.
There was talk of a revision to the tax and license situation for casinos in Georgia – did that happen?
There has been the same fixed fee for a license to operate a casino in Georgia for a number of years. What has changed this year is the increase of the license fee to operate slots rooms from GEL 20,000 ($12,000) to GEL 1,000,000 ($600,000) per annum. Currently there are many private slots operators seemingly on every street corner, operating anywhere between 20 and 50 slots. So this increase is a clear move by the government to limit exposure of slots to the local community, particularly when it is difficult to control so many venues and some of the operators are less than
30
We are continuously reviewing the market for new products, which will add value to our slots floor and most importantly
match the player profile here in Tbilisi. We have carefully selected a mix of machines from various manufacturers to fit the market. These include Novomatic, EGT, Igrosoft and Smart Games. As I have mentioned, the game mix has been carefully selected for the current market, as well as for future development as the players become more educated.
As the player base here was traditionally educated on Igrosoft games, they still have a strong market presence. However, Novomatic CF II products with Flexi link mystery jackpots, have proven extremely popular as have the EGT Vega Vision + games, which were added in early 2010. The products of both companies have become an integral part of our brand and we look forward to offering new features from both companies in the future. To continue our future development we have just started trials with various new products, the first being Gold Clubs new S2 cabinet and games.
What is your policy on buying new machines?
Because of the recent increase in the cost of a slots licenses and the likely effect that will have, our priority right now is looking at a large expansion in the number of slots we are currently operating. Of course we will be looking to increase game and machine types based on current performance levels but we understand that new products also need to be in the mix, but as usual, it will be a compromise between cost and performance.
Do you have TITO?
We don’t have TITO at the moment but we are looking at the various options available. The main question we are concerned with is whether to use
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52