Evolution Expands to Grand Rapids with New Live Casino Studio

Evolution North America prepares to launch a live dealer studio in Grand Rapids. Unlike typical casinos where guests walk through the doors to play, this facility will act as a high-tech studio, creating live-streamed table games for online platforms.

A Digital Casino Experience with a Human Touch

Jacob Claesson, CEO of Evolution North America, described the format as a hybrid between traditional table gaming and remote access. “It’s like playing at the table game at a casino, but it’s streamed online, and you’re playing from the kind of comfort of your own home,” Claesson explained.

The studio will feature actual gaming tables for Blackjack and Roulette, ed by streaming infrastructure including cameras, servers, and broadcasting systems. “We build the broadcasting Studios, where we build a physical Blackjack, Roulette tables. We put in the tech to stream, the cameras, the servers, the infrastructure to stream that online to a player anywhere in the state,” Claesson said.

The aim is to replicate the feeling of a casino table while allowing players to connect from smartphones, tablets, or computers. Evolution’s team of licensed, real-time dealers will interact with players on these digital platforms, maintaining a sense of live engagement.

According to Claesson, “There’s several poker variants, video poker and but then you also have the more game shows, the category that we call it, which is more bigger studios. It’s more of a TV production.” This blend of formats introduces a broadcast-level production quality into the online casino space.

Expansion Reflects Industry Growth

Evolution’s expansion to Grand Rapids is part of a larger operational build-out in Michigan, where the company is already hiring over 100 employees each month at its Southfield location. “We’re just kind of a bit of growing pain in the sense that we are hiring over 100 people every month here in Southfield. We just see that online gaming is growing,” Claesson said.

The Grand Rapids move was also influenced by the city’s service-oriented environment. “I really thought the kind of hospitality and the service industry, I was really impressed when I visited,” Claesson noted. Although the new studio will not accommodate public walk-ins or on-site gambling, it is expected to become an integral part of Evolution’s remote gaming network.

While Evolution does not operate its own gaming site, it provides the back-end dealer content and infrastructure for various licensed online casinos throughout Michigan.

Tackling Problem Gambling

As online gambling becomes more widespread, concerns about addiction are growing in parallel. Michigan’s December 2024 report from the Gaming Control Board indicated that internet gaming brought in a record $244 million, the highest monthly revenue figure to date.

Amy Embury, Substance Use Prevention Manager at Lakeshore Regional Entity, pointed out that gambling issues are becoming more prominent. “We hear stories often about the chasing. It’s often about the next bet, and I’m going to bet to make up for what I’ve lost,” she said. She also noted, “The Problem Gambling Helpline calls have increased.”

Evolution has protocols in place to detect problematic gambling behavior. “We have mechanisms how to report that to the operators so they can take all those actions. And that’s also the good thing with the regulated market like Michigan; there are rules in place on how you should be able to self-exclude on these sites,” Claesson stated.

With strong safeguards and a focus on responsible gaming, Evolution aims to grow its footprint responsibly while enhancing the online gambling experience across the state.

Source:

Casino company to open Grand Rapids studio for virtual dealers, fox17online.com, April 10, 2025.