Behind the Scenes in Latvia: The Las Vegas Draw

Minus 20 degrees Celsius? Frantically, I was going through my winter attire wondering how to possibly prepare for the blistering Latvian cold on my next work trip.

Despite my fear of returning in a permanently frozen state, I was truly excited for my northbound trip! After all, I had the opportunity to accompany Mr Green’s Editor-in-Chief Jon on his trip to Evolution Studios to conduct the LIVE Draw for our ‘Las Vegas Trip Giveaway’.

In celebration of Mr Green’s 10 Year Anniversary we are giving away amazing prizes each month and aspiring TV presenter Jon travels to Riga every time to announce the lucky winners LIVE at Mr Green’s exclusive Blackjack Evolution Table. Pretty exciting gig, isn’t it it?

Well, so was our journey! The Beast from the East caused so much havoc across Europe that our flight from Frankfurt to Malta was delayed, so much in fact, that we missed our connecting flight to Riga.

When we finally arrived, my boots crunched through the powdered snow and my body was bursting with excitement to finally meet the Evolution crew (despite the arctic conditions!). The Evolution office in Riga is spread over an impressive 8 levels and has over 2,000 employees.

Upon entering Evolution Studios we were greeted by the lovely Kristiana, Evolution’s Promotions Manager who is responsible for campaign execution across the board, including Mr Green’s monthly LIVE Draws.

Kristiana invited us for a coffee at the cafeteria for a quick catch up which gave me a chance to admire the size and beauty of the cafeteria – just WOW! The cafeteria boasts plenty of funky chill out spaces and a famous Latvian artist even painted parts of the walls.

Like that’s not cool enough, the Evolution employees have an entire room dedicated for yoga and meditation activities. My personal favorite, this room even has clouds hanging from the ceiling and probably the most comfortable chair(s) I have ever sat on.

After the private office tour, we headed to the neighboring building for a few test takes at Evolution’s Academy (yes! We had to step out into the freezing cold for a few minutes).

The Evolution Academy is solely used for new starters, specifically Game Presenters. Being in front of the camera for the very first time can be quite intimidating so Evolution’s Academy is the perfect training ground for aspiring game presenters.

Not only does this give them a chance to practice in front of the camera, but is also teaches them how to mutli-task. Besides being LIVE on camera, the dealer also must know the ins and outs of the game, entertain and communicate with the player.

When Jon usually performs the LIVE draw, the table is normally closed. This time however we wanted to try something exciting and new! We asked ourselves a simple question, whilst conducting LIVE draws why should all the fun stop?

So for the very first time in ‘Mr Green LIVE Draw’ history, the Blackjack Table was going to be open and running whilst Jon would announce the lucky Las Vegas winners.

Evolution promotion specialist Agija introduced Jon to Ugis, one of Mr Green’s exclusive Blackjack dealers who was assigned to do the LIVE draw with Jon. The plan was for Ugis to deal at the table and interact with the audience whilst Jon would be announcing the lucky winners.

Aiga does a fantastic job at mentoring game presenters and making sure that their performance is the best it can be and walked Jon & Ugis through the script to ensure that both were aligned before going ahead with the test take.

Then it was showtime! We headed back to the main Evolution building to film the LIVE draw. First up, Jon announced our 3 lucky Cash Winners that won €500 each, directly to their account.

And finally, the 2 Las Vegas winners were drawn, Swen H and Olavi I, who will be embarking on an unforgettable all-inclusive adventure to the city that never sleeps – Las Vegas!