Online Casino Workers Went on Hunger Strike Over Working Conditions

For much than a month, thousands of employees of Evolution, an online gambling company, person been connected onslaught successful Tbilisi, Georgia, protesting implicit pay, allegations of harassment, and unsafe moving conditions.

The onslaught began connected July 12 but escalated successful August. Initially, says Giorgi Diasamidze, caput of the worker national LABOR, the institution threatened that a onslaught would origin it to propulsion retired of the state entirely. (The institution cut 1,000 jobs aft the onslaught was announced.) But erstwhile striking workers escalated their protestation by attempting to artifact the entranceway to the gathering successful mid-August, Diasamidze and employees who spoke to WIRED allege that non-uniformed backstage information radical hired by the institution bushed the strikers.

“They are hiding their identities. They did not attraction astir gender. [I cognize people] who person bruises, who are struggling to walk,“ says Diasamidze. Pictures and video shared with WIRED amusement evident bruising and welts from the guards’ assertive behaviour toward workers, and a defender violently yanking a idiosyncratic disconnected a bench.

A fistful of workers, including Mahare Patashuri, went connected a hunger strike. “I can’t judge I americium inactive alive,” Patashuri told WIRED successful August. Last week, Patashuri was taken to the infirmary aft 28 days without food.

Evolution spokesperson Carl Linton said successful a written connection that the institution "has, and volition proceed to, enactment towards a solution of the quality wrong the established process and section law. Evolution firmly supports and respects the workers close to onslaught wrong the section ineligible framework."

"The union's determination to illegally artifact the entrances for moving employees, violating their close according to Georgian law," helium continued. "We faced challenges successful maintaining afloat operational capacity. Since the blockade has remained, disruptions person caused america to reappraisal our beingness successful Georgia including done redundancies. This reappraisal has not been caused by the onslaught itself, but arsenic a nonstop effect of the amerciable actions taken by the union."

Meanwhile, connected the different broadside of the world, Evolution is reportedly successful talks with the Nevada Gaming Control Board to get a licence to run successful Las Vegas, the astir invaluable gaming marketplace successful the US. (The institution did not remark connected these talks.)

Though the strikes person continued to garner attraction locally and successful Sweden, wherever the institution is based, the institution seems comparatively unfazed, adjacent arsenic workers anticipation that their struggles are taken into information by American regulators.

Evolution has licenses to operate successful a fistful of US states arsenic good arsenic respective European countries. But Nevada would beryllium a peculiar coup—the authorities brought successful more than $15 billion successful gross from gambling successful 2023 alone. Earlier this year, Evolution bought array gaming supplier Galaxy Gaming, done which it is applying for the licence to run successful Las Vegas.

Kirk Hendrick, seat of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, said that licensing procedures are confidential, and refused to remark further erstwhile WIRED reached retired astir Evolution’s application.

Nevada’s section Culinary Workers Union and the Bartenders Union, which collectively correspond immoderate 60,000 workers astatine casinos successful Las Vegas and Reno, person thrown their enactment down the striking workers. A typical of the culinary national shared the group’s associated public statement successful which it “urges the Nevada Gaming Commission to cull Evolution’s exertion if it continues to garbage to dainty its employees with respect and supply for decent wages and harmless moving conditions.”