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Gernot Bl\u00fcmel, Austria\u2019s finance minister, has called for the creation of an independent gambling regulator, who will take responsibility for market regulation from the country\u2019s Treasury.<\/p>\nGernot Bl\u00fcmel, Austria\u2019s finance minister, has called for the creation of an independent gambling regulator, who will take responsibility for market regulation from the country\u2019s Treasury.<\/p>\n
While speaking on Austrian television over the weekend, Bl\u00fcmel said he wanted to \u201cuntangle\u201d multiple functions currently held within the Treasury. \u201cTherefore, the areas of licensing and supervision should be outsourced to an independent gaming authority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The minister was discussing the current state of affairs at Casinos Austria, the country\u2019s gambling monopoly, which has been\u00a0plagued by scandal\u00a0in recent times.<\/p>\n
Accusations made in relation to the betting operator\u2019s appointment as the chief financial officer of Peter Sidlo, a Freedom Party of Austria (FP\u00d6) district councillor in Vienna, suggest that the move was designed to ensure that Novomatic could secure political favours from the party.<\/p>\n
As per the whistleblowers, Novomatic, which held a 17.19% stake in Casinos Austria, was planning to secure a casino licence in Vienna. This would have essentially scrapped Casinos Austria\u2019s monopoly. All associated parties have firmly denied the allegations.<\/p>\n
In the wake of the scandal, Novomatic\u00a0agreed to sell its share\u00a0to Czech gaming conglomerate Sazka Group, which already holds a stake of almost 38% in Casinos Austria. Both companies stated that sharing joint control between the parties had not produced the anticipated results.<\/p>\n
The deal would give Sazka a sizable majority, ahead of Austrian state public investment body \u00d6sterreichische Beteiligungs (\u00d6BAG), which retains a share of around 33%. While Sazka has promised to ensure \u00d6BAG will be represented on Casinos Austria\u2019s executive and supervisory boards, the transaction has led to concerns that this may lead to loss of jobs and tax revenue.<\/p>\n
While speaking with political discussion show Press Hour, Bl\u00fcmel mentioned he was aiming to negotiate an \u201cAustria package\u201d for the business, via \u00d6BAG, and secure commitments from Sazka to maintain its presence and staff numbers in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cCasinos Austria is a traditional company in Austria that provides over 3,000 jobs. It is important to me that things settle down and that jobs, its location and tax revenue remain secure\u201d, he explained.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201c\u00d6BAG will, therefore, examine how best to ensure such an \u2018Austria package\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bl\u00fcmel\u2019s intervention comes after the \u00d6sterreichische Vereinigung f\u00fcr Wetten und Gl\u00fccksspiel (\u00d6VWG), the Austrian gambling trade association, called for an end to Casinos Austria\u2019s monopoly, in the wake of the Sidlo allegations.<\/p>\n
At the time, the association had said the claims showed an urgent need for a \u201crethink\u201d of the current monopoly framework.<\/p>\n
Casinos Austria has been maintaining its monopoly since 2016, when licenses of three other providers were revoked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Gernot Bl\u00fcmel, Austria\u2019s finance minister, has called for the creation of an independent gambling regulator, who will take responsibility for market regulation from the country\u2019s Treasury. While speaking on Austrian television over the weekend, Bl\u00fcmel said he wanted to \u201cuntangle\u201d multiple functions currently held within the Treasury. \u201cTherefore, the areas of licensing and supervision should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":39276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,11,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-gaming","category-headlines","category-latest"],"yoast_head":"\n