The vision of a united Europe will become reality on 1 May 2004
(Gumpoldskirchen) Guided by the strong vision held by the founder of Novomatic that the European Integration process would not be confined to Western Europe, the Novomatic Group had started immediately after the fall of the Iron Curtain to extend its business engagements to the neighbouring countries to the East. A courageous and pioneering step, it was carried by the belief in a common future. Today, Novomatic’s subsidiaries in the new EU Member States play an essential role within the Group headed by industrialist Prof. Johann F. Graf as they have become a strong economic force within the regional markets in the new EU member states, supporting 1000 Austrian of more than 3200 jobs within the Group of companies worldwide and contributing considerably to the group turnover of EUR 420 million. „As a global player in the international gaming industry and a world market leader in the area of high-end casino technologies we have thus anticipated the European integration and with our pioneering work we have laid the foundation of a good economic future in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary as well as in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania“ underscores Novomatic founder and majority owner Prof. Johann F. Graf.
Growing together to grow together is a high aim, however, it is but one of the aims of the European Integration. Even though the new member states have long become domestic markets for us, the European Union must finally become more than merely a large economic area. A union where social security, prosperity, opportunities for the young and democracy can continue to grow based on a sound economy to create a true community,“ emphasises Mr. Graf. In his capacity as Senator of the Internatinoal Organisation of Folk Art, a UNESCO organisation, he has emphasized on many occasions that „the European integration can and must draw its strength from the variety of regions and cultures which are to be maintained in their diversity.“
Today, the Novomatic Group is actively engaged in nearly 40 countries worldwide holding more than 350 international patents and has become an ambassador of Austria’s innovative force and economic culture – not only but also in the new EU member states. „The »conquest« of the new markets as a pioneer in the early 1990’s was really a successful search for partners – to lay the foundation of an economic future and not merely to shop for subcontractors“, confirms Dr. Franz Wohlfahrt, newly appointed president of the Board of Directors of Novomatic AG. To mention only one example – from a project involving 16 people in 1989 in Kolin near Prag, European Data Project s.r.o. (EDP) has evolved to become a high-tech company with three modern production facilities near Brno providing high quality sustainable employment to more than 400 people. With more than 20 casinos and operations, EDP subsidiary Paradise Casino Admiral is also a leading casino operator in the Czech Republic.
1 May 2004: Casino opening in Haté
With the Admiral Colosseum in Excalibur City at the border crossing Kleinhaugsdorf / Haté the arguably most attractive and largest casino anywhere near an Austrian border opens on 1 May in celebration of a united Europe. The Admiral Colosseum will be a flagship casino not only for the Czech Republic but also for the entire Novomatic Group.