How long does it take to build a live casino studio?
Three named live studio projects dated from suppliers' own releases: what the announcement-to-opening clock shows, and where the record is silent.
The one live casino studio read here where both ends of the clock are public, Evolution’s Grand Rapids studio in Michigan, went from first public disclosure on 9 February 2026 to opening in the second quarter of 2026: roughly two to five months. The Bogotá studio ARRISE delivered for Pragmatic Play, billed at over 100 tables, discloses no start date.
How long does it take to build a live casino studio? The pages that rank for it are software-shop blogs answering with ranges, six to eighteen months here and four to six there; of the three competitor bodies read for this post, none names a project, a date or a table count. This desk went to the suppliers’ own releases and reports instead, read them on 19 September 2026, and built the table below from what they state. Where a date is not on the record, the row says so.
How long does it take to build a live casino studio, project by project?
| Project | Supplier | First public mention | Opened | Stated scale | Elapsed, disclosure to opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Rapids, Michigan | Evolution North America | 9 February 2026 (trade report of a FOX 17 interview) | Q2 2026 (Evolution interim report, 17 July 2026) | “over 300 employees” expected; no table count read | Roughly two to five months |
| Bogotá, Colombia | Pragmatic Play, delivered and operated by ARRISE | Announcement date not read | Launch release dated 27 October 2025 | Over $15 million; “will feature over 100 tables”; “more than 1,500 new jobs” | Not known |
| Argentina | Evolution | Not read | “Re-launched” per the same interim report | None stated | Acquired, not built |
| Monterrey, Mexico | Kerma Games (bought by Trivelta) | Job posting read 19 September 2026 | Not yet: posting says “we are launching” | Four tables | Clock still open |
Grand Rapids: the one clock with two public ends
On 9 February 2026, SportsBettingDime reported an interview Evolution North America CEO Jacob Claesson had given to FOX 17. Claesson said it would take “a couple of months” to get the studio up and running, expected over 300 employees there, and put Evolution at “almost 1,000 employees in Michigan” already; its existing studio is in Southfield. The report adds that the project had been in the works since April, without saying which April, and that dealer roles were already being advertised.
Evolution’s interim report for January to June 2026, dated 17 July 2026, states in the CEO comment that during the second quarter the company “opened our second studio in Michigan”. The quarter runs April to June, so the public interval is two to five months, and this desk will not narrow it further. Neither document states a table count or capex.
Bogotá: the biggest build, and no start date
The largest greenfield studio read here is the one Pragmatic Play announced on 27 October 2025, delivered and operated by ARRISE in Bogotá. The release states an investment of over $15 million, says the facility is “set to create more than 1,500 new jobs”, and says the studio “will feature over 100 tables” comprising “both network and dedicated tables with Smart Studio technology”. Those are stated intentions in a launch release, not audited counts.
What the release does not contain is a construction start or an earlier announcement, and this desk did not find one to read, so the Bogotá row carries no elapsed time. We assessed Pragmatic Play Live’s expansion before Bogotá opened; the dedicated versus shared table split the release describes is what a floor that size is built around.
Argentina and Monterrey: buy one, or start very small
The same Evolution report says the company has “re-launched the newly acquired studio in Argentina”. That is the third route; the report gives no acquisition date, seller or figures, so neither do we.
At the other end of the scale, Kerma Games’ Greenhouse posting for a live game presenter in Monterrey, read by this desk on 19 September 2026, still says the company “is launching” a studio that will feature four tables: blackjack, baccarat, roulette and craps. Kerma was hiring for it when Trivelta bought the company and is hiring now; the posting gives no opening date, so this clock has a start and no end.
What the table actually says
The only measured interval, Grand Rapids, is a second studio by a supplier already running nearly a thousand staff in the same state, disclosed when it was already hiring; two to five months is the tail of that project, not the whole of it. Bogotá, the one greenfield build with a capex figure, has no public start date, so the competitor blogs’ ranges for a large studio stay unsourced either way. Table count drives everything: four tables is a hiring notice, a hundred-plus is a $15 million facility and 1,500 jobs. The cost side of the second case is in what suppliers disclose about studio cost.
How long does it take to build a live casino studio?
The only project read here with both ends of the clock public is Evolution’s Grand Rapids studio: first disclosed on 9 February 2026, opened during the second quarter of 2026 per Evolution’s interim report, so roughly two to five months from disclosure to opening. It was already hiring when disclosed, so the full build ran longer.
How many tables does a live casino studio have?
It spans two orders of magnitude. Kerma Games’ Monterrey posting describes a studio that will feature four live tables: blackjack, baccarat, roulette and craps. Pragmatic Play’s Bogotá release says its studio will feature over 100 network and dedicated tables. Evolution’s interim report gives no table count for its second Michigan studio.
Can a live casino studio be built in under a year?
Evolution’s Grand Rapids studio was publicly disclosed on 9 February 2026 with ‘a couple of months’ still to go, and Evolution’s 17 July 2026 report says it opened during the second quarter. The trade report of that interview says the project had been in the works since an April it does not date. So the public interval was under a year; the internal timeline is not disclosed.
Industry coverage for an adult, 18+ readership on the supply side of the sector: Onkaji Scout offers no gambling services and does not say where to play. The studios above are assessed as capex and headcount, not as somewhere to sit at a table.