In North Macedonia, gambling is restricted and player protection is increased. Since Austrian companies would also be affected, Ambassador Georg Woutsas has now intervened. However, he made this calculation without politics, which speaks of a “scandal of the special class”.
The ambassador had written a letter to the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, as reported by “Zackzack” and the lunchtime magazine “Ö1”. In it he not only called for exceptions for the Austrian companies Casinos Austria and Novomatic, but further even threatened with “claims for damages amounting to hundreds of millions of euros”. standard of player protection, as is customary in Austria and the EU,” Woutsas wrote in February.
Embassy speaks of going it alone
The letter to the North Macedonian Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovačevski, and other parliamentarians has now been discovered. Woutsas had used the logo of the Austrian embassy in the stationery, but according to their statement, strongly disagreed. The Foreign Ministry distanced itself on Thursday, welcoming strong protections for players in North Macedonia.
The government is currently planning a protection zone of 500 meters around schools there. No arcades or gambling shops should be allowed in this area. The planned tightening has been fixed in parliament for months. In his letter, Woutas had called for exceptions for sites operated with foreign capital. If no exceptions were made, there would be “major damage to the business location” and “claims for damages”. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Woutas has already been warned. In his future position, he should have “no more points of contact with North Macedonia or economic diplomacy”.
Casinos Austria intervened
Woutas is not for the first time at odds with the North Macedonian authorities. In this case, Casinos Austria would have approached him. Their spokesman spoke of “legitimate business interests” and that the proposed law even jeopardized “the entire business model”.
Austrian politicians see things differently. Foreign policy spokeswoman Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic (Greens) even spoke of a “scandal of a special class”. Andreas Schieder, head of the SPÖ-EU delegation, agreed. “What reads like a threatening letter from the group’s board of directors, are the words of Austria’s highest representative in Skopje. Georg Woutsa’s letter would be problematic if he were actually a gambling lobbyist, after all, he seriously intervenes against a gambling protection zone around kindergartens and schools,” he explained.
The NEOS demanded that the incident be clarified on Thursday. “We want to know if the ambassador acted alone and if not, on whose behalf he acted.” The Greens announced a parliamentary question to Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP).
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
