Former Top Politician Moves to Novomatic

Former top politician moves to Novomatic

By Barbara Ziegler Published on: March 6th, 2018 Updated on: February 26th, 2019

The long-time leader of the Austrian party The Greens, Eva Glawischnig, is moving to the gaming group Novomatic. She had repeatedly accused the company of being too close to politics. The personnel caused a storm of indignation.

Novomatic-Boss Harald Neumann with his new employee Eva Glawischnig. (©Novomatic/Thomas Meyer)

Glawischnig is responsible for the areas of “Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability”, corporate responsibility and sustainability at Novomatic. The company announced this at a press conference last Friday. Based on an article in the satirical magazine dietagespresse.com, which consisted of the unchanged agency report, the news was initially thought to be a joke. And this suspicion arose, as the 49-year-old is known as a vehement critic of gambling in general and Novomatics in particular.

But it is precisely this quality as a reminder of socially acceptable play that Novomatic apparently wants to take advantage of. Loud Press release They strive for global market leadership and also want to “set global standards” in the area of responsibility management. Glawischnig is particularly suitable for this area due to her political experience and her work for the environmental organization Global 2000. The differences of the past have largely been resolved.

Of course, there have been controversies between our company and Eva Glawischnig in the past. Ultimately, Ms. Glawischnig got to know Novomatic better and we saw that our views largely coincide.Harald Neumann, boss of Novomatic

Eva Glawischnig surprisingly resigned as party leader and spokeswoman for the Greens in the summer of 2017. She cited health considerations as a key motivation. She no longer wanted to be exposed to the upcoming election campaign. She was a member of her party's leadership team for almost 20 years. During this time, she and her party were critical of gambling and particularly emphasized social risks caused by gambling addiction.

Devastating media response

It was reported both in the Austrian press and on social media The politician's move into the gaming industry sentenced. The friendlier accusations are that Glawischnig is making her entire political career unbelievable and following the call of money. Novomatic is about “greenwashing” in terms of personnel; they want to transparently pretend to care about corporate responsibility by declaring a critic responsible for it.

In fact, Glawischnig seems to have had a rather astonishing change of heart, considering her Statements from the last few years on the subject of gambling. In 2010, the politician compared the consequences of gambling addiction with those of cancer, and in 2011 she accused Novomatic of influencing legislation:

I think that those who have money have influence, like the Novomatic, I also say it openly, and really influence laws. Eva Glawischnig in November 2011

She no longer seems to hold this against the company. For her, Novomatic is “essentially a high-tech company” and she has “always wanted to be part of the big guys.” Even before she left politics, however, she had taken the position that bans would not make gambling addiction disappear. It's good that she is making the change in good faith that she can achieve more in a responsible position within the industry. At least that's what their statements suggest Interview with the Crown close.

Last but not least, the question of the future of online gaming is currently unclear at the Austrian gaming giant. Due to legal uncertainties, the company recently withdrew its products from the market in Singapore, and since then the online casinos have had to do so without the visitors, especially at gaming arcades popular Novoline games get along. Possibly Glawischnig could use her contacts in German politics to enable Novomatic to re-enter the online sector without jeopardizing its stationary gaming licenses.

Lack of understanding in the party

However, she has done her party a disservice. Her political colleagues resent her move; there is a lack of understanding and frustration in the ranks of the Greens. The announcement of the personnel comes in the final phase of the election campaign in Carinthia and the party has hardly recovered from Glawischnig's sudden departure about 8 months ago. Her former colleagues also made an effort to emphasize their continued opposition to Novomatic. “Then we will also fight the practices of Novomatic against a sustainability manager Eva Glawischnig,” said MP Sigi Maurer.

Some commentators even speak of “belated revenge” against their party as a motive for changing jobs. However, Glawischnig always denied internal party difficulties as a reason for resignation and cited personal, health reasons. However, after the public's reaction to her new job, she gave up her membership with the Greens.

Former top politician moves to Novomatic