The modern, stylish and premium-service casino in Georgia, Shangri La Casino Tbilisi, is continuing to establish itself and uphold international gambling standards along with excellent service and security in Georgia.
Besides offering the best casino experience, Shangri La Casino Tbilisi is an impressive contributor to the Georgian economy as one of the largest taxpayers in the country. Shangri La’s positive influence on the Georgian economy is not only through paying taxes, but also by bringing money in by extension to other businesses, such as suppliers, service providers, transport, hotels and so on.
Shangri La Tbilisi is a part of the Shangri La Casinos family, managed by Storm International – a world-famous gaming business operator with more than 30 years of history and reputation.
Located in one of the most historic and picturesque areas of Tbilisi, near the Bridge of Peace, Shangri La Casino offers both table games (various kinds of poker, American roulette, blackjack, and punto banco) and state-of-the-art slot machines by the world’s best manufacturers.
In his interview with Golden Brand, John Harrak, PD Director of Shangri La talked about the challenges created by the pandemic and how the casino overcame them.
Q. Like many other businesses around the world, Shangri La was hit hard by the pandemic. Please tell us how the pandemic affected the company.
A. I think this is the biggest challenge the casino industry has ever experienced worldwide. The financial impact of the pandemic on the land-based casino sector has been extreme. Some casinos have closed permanently, and many casino employees have lost their jobs.
Q. How have you overcome these challenges?
A. We are under no illusion that the industry will return to ‘business as usual’ soon. We are, as a matter of fact, very far from business as usual. But, we are starting slowly. COVID regulations have been eased for the last two months, but there is still a huge impact on the world economy.
Q. Let’s talk about the current situation – how will Shangri La continue operations on the Georgian market? What are its plans for the future?
A. We have been operating in Tbilisi for ten years, if we don`t count the year and a half we were closed due to COVID.
As you know, we are part of the international Shangri La chain managed by Storm International, a world-famous gaming business operator with 30 years of history and reputation.
Our company is focused on development all around the world. Our last project was the opening of the SL Casino in Kyiv and Kharkiv, but of which we had to close, of course, due to the war.
Q. How do you try to attract visitors? What special offers do you have?
A. I think that the first draw is our premium-service casino, which continues to establish and uphold international gambling standards along with excellent service and security. We have a lot of foreign visitors and this is because of the special package system we provide visitors.
Q. What is the Georgian experience of Shangri La?
A. Shangri La Tbilisi opened in 2012, and in these 10 years we have managed to build an excellent reputation not only in Georgia, but in the whole region.
We are a club-style casino and in this segment we are much better than many European casinos in terms of service.
Our positive influence on the Georgian economy is not only through paying taxes, but also the money our clients bring to other businesses.
Q. Shangri La won the Golden Brand again this year. In your opinion, why have the experts named Shangri La as their favorite casino in Georgia?
A. We are very glad to receive the award. It is very important for us to keep the highest standards of service and provide our guests with the best experience. Besides offering the best casino experience, Shangri La Casino Tbilisi is an impressive contributor to the Georgian economy employing 460 staff and contributing significant tax revenue.
