{"id":122202,"date":"2019-12-13T06:04:57","date_gmt":"2019-12-13T14:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=122202"},"modified":"2019-12-13T10:24:55","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T18:24:55","slug":"novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Novomatic Sells Stake in Casinos Austria Amid Corruption Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austrian gaming giant Novomatic AG has reached a deal to offload its 17 percent stake in Casino Austria to Czech Republic-based lottery operator SAZKA Group. The sell-off comes as Novomatic is being investigated over corruption allegations<\/a> involving Casinos Austria and the country\u2019s far-right former vice chancellor.<\/p>\n

\"Heinz-Christian
Populist right-wing leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned after being caught up in an elaborate sting involving a phony Russian oligarch\u2019s niece. (Image: Teller Report)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The deal will make the Czech company the controlling shareholder of the casino chain, which has the monopoly on casino gaming in Austria, where it owns and operates 12 casinos. It owns a further 25 casinos across the globe. The other major shareholder in the venture is the Austrian state, with a 33 percent stake in the venture.<\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s economic crimes and corruption prosecutor, WKStA, is currently investigating 11 individuals over allegations of graft and illicit political funding. All have links to either Novomatic, Casinos Austria, or the Austrian government.<\/p>\n

These include Novomatic\u2019s billionaire CEO, Johann Graff, and Heinz-Christian Strache, whose populist anti-immigration Freedom Party formed a coalition government with the Conservative Party following elections in 2017.<\/p>\n

Fake Oligarch Sting<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In May 2019, Strache was forced to resign as vice chancellor \u2013 the second-highest political position in the land \u2013 after he was caught on video tape offering state contracts for cash to a woman posing as a Russian Oligarch\u2019s niece.<\/p>\n

\n

It\u2019s still unclear who was behind the elaborate sting that ensnared Strache, who is heard discussing the potential sale of one of Austria\u2019s biggest tabloid newspapers to the non-existent oligarch in order to ensure positive coverage for the Freedom Party.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He also discusses methods for companies to make illegal political donations by using non-profit organizations to conceal the payments from auditors. Strache mentions Novomatic and several other companies who funded the Freedom Party in this way. Novomatic denies it did so.<\/p>\n

Questionable Appointment <\/strong><\/h2>\n

In March 2019, Freedom Party member and Strache crony Peter Sidlo was appointed CFO of Casinos Austria, despite having no previous executive or gaming industry experience.<\/p>\n

Whistleblowers have alleged that Novomatic backed Sidlo\u2019s election to the board as part of a quid-pro-quo backroom deal. They claim Novomatic hoped that Strache could influence government to break Casinos Austria\u2019s longstanding monopoly on casino gaming and allow Novomatic to build a casino in Vienna, and also to rescind a law banning<\/a> small gaming parlors from the Austrian capital.<\/p>\n

Novomatic has categorically denied these allegations.<\/p>\n

In an official statement this week, Novomatic chairman Harald Neumann said his company decided to sell its position in Casinos Austria in order give the chain \u201ca clear ownership structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to enable a stable and sustainable shareholder structure that secures the company in the long-term for the future challenges of national and global markets,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Neumann was among those whose homes and offices were raided by police in August in connection with the corruption investigation. Graff and Strache were also targeted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Austrian gaming giant Novomatic AG has reached a deal to offload its 17 percent stake in Casino Austria to Czech Republic-based lottery operator SAZKA Group. The sell-off comes as Novomatic is being investigated over corruption allegations involving Casinos Austria and the country\u2019s far-right former vice chancellor. The deal will make the Czech company the controlling […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":122203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,32093],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNovomatic Sells Stake in Casinos Austria Amid Corruption Scandal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Novomatic sells its 17 percent stake in Casinos Austria to Czech lottery group SAZKA amid investigation over links to Heinz-Christian Strache.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Novomatic Sells Stake in Casinos Austria Amid Corruption Scandal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Novomatic sells its 17 percent stake in Casinos Austria to Czech lottery group SAZKA amid investigation over links to Heinz-Christian Strache.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-13T14:04:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-12-13T18:24:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heinz.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"731\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/\",\"name\":\"Novomatic Sells Stake in Casinos Austria Amid Corruption Scandal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heinz.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-13T14:04:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-12-13T18:24:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Novomatic sells its 17 percent stake in Casinos Austria to Czech lottery group SAZKA amid investigation over links to Heinz-Christian Strache.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/novomatic-sells-stake-in-casinos-austria-amid-corruption-scandal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heinz.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/heinz.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":731,\"caption\":\"Populist right-wing leader Heinz-Christian Strache resigned after being caught up in an elaborate sting involving a phony Russian oligarch\u2019s niece. 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