Q: How would you rate Georgia’s position on the international iGaming map?
Georgia is becoming a serious market, no longer just regional interest. Growth is fast, attention is increasing, and regulation is clearly evolving.

Q: How crucial are these offline conferences for the industry’s growth?
They are crucial. In iGaming, a lot of growth still comes from trust, relationships, and compliance alignment, and that is hard to fully replace online. The best conferences bring the right decision-makers together, and that is what creates real business opportunities.

Q: What are the top 3 trends that will shape this field in the next 2–3 years?
AI‑driven discovery (AI visibility)
More users discover brands through AI answers, not search engines. Understanding how brands appear in AI has become a new marketing layer. AI visibility tools like ChatObserver and Profound are good options to track and measure this shift.

Operational AI as standard
AI‑powered personalisation, CRM automation, and fraud detection are not optional anymore. Keep up or get left behind.

Stricter, system‑led regulation
Safer gambling, AML, and verification are becoming embedded, auditable systems.

Q: Regulations are tightening everywhere. Where is the line between strict control and business freedom?
For me, the line is simple: protect players without pushing them into the illegal market. If regulation makes the legal product too restrictive or confusing, users often migrate elsewhere. You need rules that are strict, but also realistic and enforceable.

Q: When you hear about the Georgian gambling market, what’s the first association that comes to mind?
Honestly, the only place where you can gamble, attend a poker tournament, and enjoy a proper khachapuri with a lovely Georgian wine in the same evening.

Beyond that, Georgia feels like a market balancing strong momentum with stronger oversight. It is still shaping its long‑term identity, but it is moving fast. Beyond online growth, the land‑based gambling industry is expanding, boosting tourism and positioning the country as a regional entertainment hub. Casinos attract recreational players looking for a “Little Vegas” atmosphere, while international poker tournaments are drawing players from neighbouring markets — including countries like Turkey, where land‑based gambling is not permitted.

Q:  What is one mistake Germany made that Georgia should definitely avoid?
Making the regulated offer too hard to compete with. When restrictions and enforcement complexity pile up, the legal market loses attractiveness and the illegal market benefits. That is the big lesson.

Q: How can we fight the illegal market more effectively?
It comes down to three things working together:
First, the legal offer must stay competitive. Safe, transparent, high‑quality experiences naturally attract players.

Second, enforcement must be real, not just written into legislation. Proper supervision and meaningful penalties matter.

Third, we need stronger visibility and trust signals in digital discovery. Many users now rely on AI assistants rather than traditional search. If legal, licensed operators are consistently surfaced as trusted options, illegal operators struggle to compete quietly in the background.
Fighting the illegal market is not only about blocking access — it is also about making the legal market clearly visible and preferable where decisions are made.

Q:  AI and crypto — real future or passing trend?
AI is definitely the future — it is already reshaping operations and marketing.
Crypto is more mixed. It can improve payments and cross‑border efficiency, but without strong AML and oversight, it can also enable grey or illegal behaviour.
The most underestimated shift today is AI visibility, because it influences trust and consideration before a user even reaches a website.