We strengthen social dialog through our CSR partnerships.

Social responsibility in the way it is understood and practiced by the Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries Group places a clear focus on dialog and partnerships. We maintain a continuous dialog with our stakeholders and seek to promote discourse in society on key issues. The events in the Casinos Austria Talks series – the Casinos Austria Tourism Talk, the Casinos Austria Culture Talk and the Casinos Austria CSR Talk – all serve this goal.

The first Casinos Austria Tourism Talk was held in 2010. These talks are designed to highlight Casinos Austria’s leading role for Austrian tourism strengthen the networking activities of our twelve casinos with the tourism sector in their respective regions. The Tourism Talks are organized in cooperation with the Austrian Hoteliers’ Association (ÖHV) and the Tourist Austria International magazine. They are each held in a different casino, thus spreading them across the different states in Austria.

In early 2017, the newly-opened Casino Zell am See hosted a panel discussion on the upcoming EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Moderated by the Editor-in-Chief of Tourist Austria International Christopher Norden, ÖHV Secretary General Markus Gratzer, the tourism consultant Thomas Reisenzahn, ÖHV Vice President Albert Schwaighofer, the lawyer and expert on data law Gerald Ganzger, the CFO of Falkensteiner Michaeler Tourism Group Claudia Beermann and Casinos Austria Director Dietmar Hoscher discussed the upcoming regulation at length.

The large audience, made up primarily of representatives of the tourism sector, clearly benefitted from the in-depth discussion of the new requirements that were to be introduced by the GDPR. The members of the panel all agreed that – given the massive changes – solidarity in the Austrian tourism sector and agreement on its shared interests would become even more important in future.

Launched in 2014, the Casinos Austria Culture Talks focus on issues related to culture and cultural policy. The Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries Group considers support for culture initiatives to be an important socio-political task. The goal of our commitment in this sector is always to promote cultural diversity.

Accordingly, the Casinos Austria Culture Talks provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and for networking with creative artists, organizations and initiatives. At the Culture Talk held in May 2017 at the Summerstage on the Danube Canal in Vienna, the panel discussed the provocative question: “Is rock music dead?”

“No” was their clear conclusion: rock music might have changed over the years, but it is still very much alive and relevant.

The panel on this occasion was made up of the musicians Roman Gregory (“Alkbottle”), Max Testory (“Die Kammer”), Annett Thoms (“Stringulatur”), Judith ‘Judy’ Frank (“Skolka”) as well as Josef ‘Muff’ Sopper from the event firm Planet.tt and Casinos Austria Director Dietmar Hoscher, who is also an active music journalist and concert host. The discussion was moderated by the radio presenter Niki Fuchs.

Casinos Austria CSR Talk

2017 also marked the launch of the Casinos Austria CSR Talk series. The huge response to this event – which was held in the Justizcafé on the roof of the Palace of Justice in Vienna – underscores the growing relevance of CSR for business and society in Austria. At the Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries Group, we have made it our goal not just to run our own group according to ethical and sustainable principles but also to promote and advocate such an approach. Our membership and commitment to the UN Global Compact also reflects and serves this goal.

The Casinos Austria CSR Talk on “CSR 2.0 – Social Responsibility Under Review” was moderated by Rainer Nowak, Editor-in-Chief of the newspaper Die Presse. The high-caliber panelists at this – at times heated – discussion were Dietmar Hoscher (Director of CSR, Casinos Austria), Karin Bergmann (the then Director of the Burgtheater in Vienna), Erich Fenninger (National Chief Executive, Volkshilfe aid organization), Markus Scholz (Professor of Corporate Governance & Business Ethics) and Wolfram Tertschnig (Austrian Ministry of the Environment).

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