Austria is ready to tackle the topic of a licensed gambling market head-on, local media reported.

The Austria Press Agency (APA) said that the ÖVP–SPÖ–NEOS coalition government is in discussions to introduce a draft bill by the end of this year, which will address the issue of a number of state-owned licences expiring over the next few years.

Currently, the Austrian gambling market represents a monopoly divided among several state-owned concessions – Casino Austria AG (CASAG) manages the 12 land-based casinos in Austria, Österreichische Lotterien (OL) is in charge of the lotteries, while Win2Day (OL-owned) is the sole licensed provider of online gambling.

The lottery concession, and in extension Win2Day’s licence as well, is scheduled to end in the fall of 2027, while CASAG will surrender its licence sometime between 2027 and 2030. 

Understandably, there is a lot of interest from international operators to try and get into the market – although many already operate in Austria and are either in the grey market, through EU licences, or are straight black market companies.

But Austria’s market is quite multi-layered and it would be interesting to see how the government tries to break up the complex web of state-owned companies.

Who owns what

CASAG, the land-based casinos operator, is 33% owned by the state holding company ÖBAG Holdings. The majority shareholder with 59% is Czech lottery conglomerate Allwyn. Naturally, the lottery firm – which is also the operator of the UK National Lottery – is keeping a close eye on the market.

Austrian Lotteries (OL), including its subsidiary Win2Day – both in control of the lotteries and online gambling in Austria – are majority owned by another state holding firm, ÖLG Holding GmbH (74%). However, ÖLG Holding is fully owned by CASAG, therefore Allwyn has an indirect exposure to OL’s assets and lottery market share.

Besides Allwyn, another global gambling conglomerate is also slated to have a go at the Austrian market if the government decided to break down its monopoly.

Marco Tasso, Board Member of US-based Brightstar (formerly IGT), recently spoke to the Kurier and said: “Brightstar is considering participating in the upcoming tender for the Austrian lottery concession… We are delighted… and see great potential in Austria.”

Austrian news outlet Der Standard further added that Brightstar has entered talks with Austria’s national post service, Österreichische Post AG, for the creation of a potential consortium to tackle the lottery market.

This would be interesting, however, as Austrian Post is 53% owned by ÖBAG Holdings. This would mean that if Brightstar unites with the Post, it will pit two state-owned companies, ÖBAG and Austrian Post, against each other for the lottery tender – and Allwyn will also be caught in between.

It remains to be seen what the coalition’s draft bill will propose in the coming weeks, with APA further adding that the new legislation regarding the state of the current Austrian gambling market is expected to come into force sometime in the first half of 2026.