Butcher-Turned-Gambling Billionaire Fights for His Casino Empire
A customer plays on a Novomatic electronic slot machine in Wiener Neudorf, Austria
Photographer: Lisi Niesner/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Billionaire Johann Graf has never had to fight on so many fronts at the same time.
The ordinary-man’s gambling company, Novomatic, the 73-year-old Austrian butcher-turned-tycoon created four decades ago, is raking in smaller profits as the pandemic drives people away from slot machines in casinos from Las Vegas to Macau. His company is also battling allegations of corruption, its chief executive has left and it needs to refinance about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in debt.