Politics in Austria is currently dominated by the investigation into the “Ibiza” affair. In our country, “Ibiza” stands for the secretly recorded conversation between the former chairman of the Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, with an alleged Russian investor on that Spanish holiday island. In this conversation, the later Vice Chancellor chats straight away about covert party financing, as well as the award of contracts and jobs after his party’s entry into government. Strache’s remarks culminate in the sentence: “Novomatic pays everyone.”
“The NOVOMATIC Group is one of the largest gaming technology companies in the world with a turnover of around EUR 5.1 billion in 2019. Founded in 1980, the Group has locations in around 50 countries and exports high-tech gaming equipment to more than 75 countries.” This can be read on the homepage of that Austrian company. Novomatic employs almost 25,000 people worldwide, including the former heads of the Social Democratic Party of Austria and the Austrian Greens and former ministers. The former CEO of this “gaming technology company” and chairman of Vienna’s People’s Party is now the EU budget commissioner.
The success of a “gaming technology company” is inevitably based on the misfortune of its customers. The profit of a “gaming technology company” is gained exclusively by their loss. The economic law of nature “The profit of one is the loss of all” is being pushed by a “gaming technology company” to its perverse extreme. Instead of an economic surplus, a “gaming technology company” only creates gambling addiction.
The fact that Austria’s politicians are flocking around this “gaming technology company” like flies around the dung cannot be beaten in terms of shamelessness. When the President of the Austrian Parliament justifies his close (personal and financial) relations to this “gaming technology company” with its “social responsibility”, then the peak of perversion has been reached.
“Novomatic pays everyone.” It’s enough.
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Vienna Calling 