The cards are now being completely reshuffled in the domestic gambling world: Gumpoldskirchen-based gambling giant Novomatic is selling its 200-location Admiral betting chain to Germany’s Tipico Group. The deal has already been signed.
Years ago, Johann Graf, owner of Novomatic and Admiral, complained that his business in Austria was barely significant in terms of turnover, but caused him the most problems and cost him the most in taxes. At the time, investigations were underway into the filling of a management position at Casinos Austria, of which Novomatic was co-owner for several years. The allegations were a conspiracy with the government.
“Found a reliable partner with Tipico”
Now the opportunity arose for a partial withdrawal from Austria. Novomatic sells the home locations of Admiral, founded in 1991, to Tipico. “We want to focus on international growth markets and stimulate further global expansion. With Tipico we have found a very professional and reliable partner,” says Stefan Krenn, CEO of Novomatic, explaining the deal. There are approximately 200 branches with 1,500 employees. Sports bars with restaurants are operated at 110 of these locations, and 150 locations also have gaming machines, which Admiral is allowed to operate under licenses from individual states. Admiral is the clear market leader in Austria and is also known as a sponsor of the Bundesliga. The contract has been signed, but the approvals from the authorities are still lacking.
These are also necessary because Tipico is the number one in Germany in the field of sports betting with a market share of approximately 50 percent. Together we operate approximately 1,300 betting shops there and here. Tipico offers games of chance through a license from Malta. The group, which has been part of the CVC investment fund for several years, is active in seven countries. Now they want to expand their leading role in German-speaking countries and strengthen their position in Austria, says Tipico CEO Axel Hefer, pleased with the coup. It is still unclear whether all admiral branches and the name will remain.
The world’s largest developer of slot machines
For Novomatic, the exit is not that big of a problem. The group, based in Gumpoldskirchen, Lower Austria, is a leading developer of gaming machines and gaming software for 120 countries around the world and operates 2,200 gaming locations worldwide with 25,000 employees. Turnover already amounted to 3.2 billion euros in 2023. Admiral contributed only a fraction of this. The media-shy current owner Johann Graf will get over it anyway, because he was for a long time one of the richest Austrians with an estimated fortune of 5.7 billion euros.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
