Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JUL 2021 32 owned by ÖBAG, an acronym for Österreichische Beteiligungs AG (in English “Austrian Holdings”), an Austrian sovereign wealth fund. But even an association with government hasn’t kept Casinos Austria free of compliance issues over the years. A quick google search turns up several cases where Casinos Austria found itself in court on a range of allegations, including some relating to gambling addiction issues. For example, a former CFO of Casinos Austria, Peter Sidlo, who held the role from March to December 2019, filed a € 2.3 million unfair dismissal lawsuit against Casinos Austria. Alleged to be “woefully underqualified for the Casinos Austria post” and fired for “gross breach of duty” and “inflicting serious damage to the reputation of Casinos Austria,” Sidlo was allegedly part of a political scandal involving the country’s former far- right Vice Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, and the privately held Austrian gaming giant Novomatic, which at one stage owned around 17% of Casinos Austria. Novomatic has since disposed of its interest in Casinos Austria, and Strache resigned. OPERATOR PARTNER Given Casinos Austria is a gaming operator, it would be expected that they would operate the casino themselves, so the more interesting Nagasaki has heralded the IR project as a chance to reinvigorate not only Huis Ten Bosch, but Sasebo, Nagasaki and the entire island of Kyushu at the western end of the country. 長崎はIR計画について、ハウステンボ スだけでなく、佐世保市、長崎県、そして 九州全体を再活性化するチャンスとし て歓迎している。 COVER STORY