However this so called "Kleine Glücksspiel" - like AWPs - is only allowed in  4 of the 9 Austrian counties. The county governments can impose further restrictions, like in Carinthia, where such gambling machines must be approved and tested for a minimum  payout of 85 % and a game must last 5 seconds.

There are isolated reports of unspecified numbers of illegal gambling machines operated in all the other counties, but the number of convictions for breach of the gambling law was only 18 in 2005 and 17 in 2006 for all Austria. Numbers of any administrative actions on district level are not available. Since 2007/2008 large numbers of so called internet terminals are also operated as gambling machines within the 50 cent/20.-€ exception of the monopoly, mainly, but not only, in the counties with AWP gambling prohibition.

While the private company Casinos Austria AG operates 12 casinos in the country, there are allegedly about 80 to 90 casinos and gambling arcades directly operating successfully since many years along the Austrian border with parking spaces full of Austrian cars and more such casinos are planned.

However it is reported that Austrians nevertheless are already spending 4 times more money per head for gambling on the internet as the Germans for instance. Of course it is prohibited by law to gamble on the internet, but nobody cares, because it cannot be controlled. 

Anonymous payment cards can be bought at any post office, many shops and other locations since nearly ten years. Also debit cards, readily available over the counter of some banks, cannot be controlled  properly.   

The official statement of the trade body Automatenverband.at  in reference to those facts is :

"Whoever tells you, that is possible to successfully prohibit or impede gambling on the internet, either does not know what he is talking about, or he lies."

 Another problem area is, that the Austrians are expecting a new gambling law, which, because of intensive lobbying by various parties involved, will have enormous influence on the future of the AWP gambling business. While there are attempts to prohibit gambling outside of the private monopoly casinos completely, there are also plans to allow gambling arcades with restrictions in all counties.

In November 2008, immediately after the elections and before the new government was in power, an attempt was made to eliminate over 1000 small and medium companies involved in the AWP gambling business in favour of a new gambling regime. It would also have made over 10.000 people unemployed within an interim period of a few years.

Luckily the draft of the new law, which was planned to be in power on 1st of January 2009, had a number of serious  juridical and constitutional mistakes in it. It also missed to observe some important aspects of the prevailing European Union laws an d the Treaty.

Presently it is still under top secret discussion at the Ministry of Finance, which carefully avoids the public eye.

Of course it is subject of intensive lobbying  by the major players and will probably be presented very suddenly to the parliament  before the end of this year. This way some politicians could try to avoid any unwanted public discussions about a centrally planned gambling business with strange details, resulting in unfair competition, destruction of healthy companies, unemployment and heavily restricted choices for the local consumers.

While some of those seeking to influence  the government are unpaid lobbyists for internet casinos overseas, there are others, even alleged experts, with amateurish expectations of the possible taxes they want to raise. 

It must also be remembered, that a first, more harmless, legislative amendment from November 2007, has only received approval later in 2008. It raised the fines for gambling on the internet (which cannot be controlled anyway) and  imposed entry controls for the gambling arcades of a monopoly concessionaire from 2009, which, however, are reported to be still not in force everywhere.

The next concern for the industry is that of pathological gamblers.

Responsible gambling in the AWP business has a long tradition in Austria, but pathological gamblers are misused by politicians and some organisations for their political campaigns.  Automatenverband.at  received data, which shows, that there are probably more psychologists and psychotherapists than gambling machines in Austria! Of course not all of them try to treat the few pathological gamblers.

There have been constant attacks against the AWP gambling  sector through certain media with inflated numbers and unscientific terms like "people being affected by gambling addiction", which of course includes not only the few pathological gamblers but also the large number of any relatives, friends or people who may have lent money or were neglected somehow.

It does not help that the largest TV and radio station holds a 6 % stake in the Austrian lotteries and that indirectly some owners of newspapers have interests in the only casino company, Casinos Austria AG, which again is majority owner of Austrian Lotteries.

So far the government, our politicians and public servants, have clearly failed to regulate the gambling business in Austria successfully against worldwide competition and the existing needs of the population. It needs to be seen, if the expected new legislation will be able to regulate an industry and business, which thrives on the latest innovations and the fast implementation of the same or if the player's money will keep ending up in the tax free Caribbean, where gamblers are tempted to gamble with certified payouts of 97 and 98 % and only any problems will remain in Austria.

On a more optimistic note, the amusement machine market in Austria remains strong and dominated by domestic companies such as TAB Austria and Funworld. These companies established the touchscreeen sector and supply their machines all over the world. Their machines are networked and can be downloaded with games remotely and both companies have organised complex and engaging tournaments, including players from all over the globe.

Austria is renowned for its manufacturing skills throughout the gaming industry and despite its relatively small size, it is home to many large corporations whose brand names are synonymous with quality and innovation.

Helmut Kafka, 1st Vicepresident, EUROMAT

President, Automatenverband.at

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