AUSTRIAN UPDATE
Landmark decisions of Austrian courts in 2023 AMID HUNDREDS OF PLAYER CLAIMS, JUDGMENTS IN AUSTRIA’S SUPREME COURT, HIGH COURTS AND COURTS OF LOWER INSTANCE COULD HAVE A BIG IMPACT ON GAMES OF CHANCE. CHRISTIAN RAPANI AND JULIA KOTANKO REPORT .
Introduction This year, Austria has seen a number of judgments in the High Courts as well as courts of lower instance that are of special importance to games of chance and betting operators offering their services to Austrian consumers. This article aims to highlight the most relevant rulings as well as their potential impact on the gaming industry. Directors of online games of chance operators The Austrian Supreme Court has previously ruled that there is a separate and independent claim against the “Geschäftsführer” (managing directors) of games of chance operators due to a violation of a protective law. The legal basis for this separate claim is the law of damages (tort law) due to violation of
protective law. This claim may be filed regardless of whether a claim was also and/or first filed against the company itself. Previously the main argument in such tort cases against directors directly was that Austrian courts do not have jurisdiction, as neither the damaging action nor the damage occurred in Austria. This line of argumentation was successful until Summer 2023 in more than a hundred first and second instance rulings. However, the Austrian Supreme Court has now made two rulings in similar cases regarding jurisdiction. In these cases, a well-known process cost financier from Switzerland had claims from Austrian players assigned to them and then made the claim against the games of chance operator in their own name at an Austrian court. The games of chance operator argued especially that the Austrian courts do not have jurisdiction, as the place of damage and the place
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IMGL MAGAZINE | OCTOBER 2023
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