Austrian shutdown prompts layoffs at Bet-at-Home

The operator said the restructuring plan was necessary in order to “adjust the group’s structure to lower revenues”, after announcing it would pull its online casino offering from the Austrian market.

That decision, made in October, followed a legal case in Austria in which a number of players sought reimbursement for losses incurred with unlicensed operators. Casinos Austria is the only operator licensed to offer online casino in the country.

At the time, Bet-at-Home said it was confident it would eventually win the case, but added it was now unclear how long this would take. As a result, it said, continuing to offer online casino would lead to a “steadily increasing risk potential that appears indefensible overall”.

As a result it reduced its revenue and earnings expectations for the 2021 calendar year. The business now projects revenue of between €93m and €98m, compared to the €100m-€110m range projected after it published its first-half results in August.

The operator also said that it was possible it would have to repay as much as 40% of customer losses from its Austrian casino operations, which could amount to €24.6m.

Given these factors, the operator made the decision to reduce its headcount by 65. 

However, Bet-at-Home added that it remained confident in its future growth opportunities having made this adjustment.

“With almost 200 highly qualified and dedicated employees, the Bet-at-Home Group is very well positioned for positive economic development,” it said.