High-profile trio charged
Austria’s state prosecutor has filed charges against a former Vice Chancellor and two Novomatic executives for bribery over favorable legislative or licensing treatment given to Casino Austria.
Ex-Federal Minister for Public Service and Sport Heinz-Christian Strache is the highest profile defendant named by Austria’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for Economic Affairs and Corruption (WKStA) in its lawsuit.
Along with Strache, WKStA also charged Novomatic owner Johann Graf and ex-Novomatic and Ainsworth Game Technology (AGT) CEO, Harald Neumann in the bribery suit following an order from the Senior Public Prosecutor’s Office Vienna and the Federal Ministry of Justice.
exposure of illegal casino deals and toppled the Austrian government
The case is linked to a 2019 scandal that led to the exposure of illegal casino deals and toppled the Austrian government.
WKStA confirmed the statutory penalty is a maximum two years in jail.
Stakes galore
WKStA alleges an illegal deal took place between senior Novomatic execs and Strache in which the ex-Vice Chancellor agreed to award gambling licenses to Casinos Austria at a time when Novomatic “held a 17.2% interest” in the 33% state-owned casino group.
Austria’s state prosecutor has charged Strache and the two execs with accepting and granting benefits, respectively, “to exert influence,” while also applying for a fine against the Vienna-headquartered global iGaming giant Novomatic.
While WKStA discontinued probes into multiple politicians linked to the casino scandal due to “insufficient evidence of criminal intent” last year, it has pursued Strache and senior Novamatic leadership.
Novomatic, which has denied the allegations, stating it was surprised by the prosecutor’s decision to proceed, holds a 67.39% stake in the Sydney, Australia-based AGT.
Neumann stepped down as AGT CEO in October 2025. According to an AGT filing with the Australian Securities Exchange on March 2, the gaming machine manufacturer said it had been informed by Novomatic that WKStA had “filed a demand for prosecution in an Austrian court.”
Suit amid a battle
AGT said it would “keep the market informed of any material developments in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations” and that it was alerting “applicable regulators” to the case.
Last month, Novomatic failed in its attempt to acquire the remaining shares of AGT after its takeover bid fell short of the 75% shareholder approval needed to take the Australian firm private. The charges laid out against Neumann add another twist to the ongoing shareholder battle between Novomatic and AGT.
