Bet-at-home shuts down Maltese subsidiary as Austria's online casino operations remain halted
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bet-at-home.com AG Group has decided to shut down a Maltese subsidiary, whose main business activity was online casino offerings in Austria, where the firm had suspended operations in October facing legal claims from players for reimbursement of gambling losses in the casino.
The Germany-based group had announced that the online casino in Austria had been discontinued as a precautionary measure due to current rulings by Austrian courts. The Maltese bet-at-home.com Entertainment Ltd., in which the group indirectly holds all shares, had offered the online casino in Austria. The firm still considers the national Austrian gambling regulations to be contrary to European law, but in a release on Dec. 22 said "it is still not foreseeable that the online casino will be offered again in Austria in the near future."
Therefore, the company's Management Board and Supervisory Board have determined that it is not possible for Maltese bet-at-home.com Entertainment Ltd. to continue as a going concern. "In the absence of a positive going concern forecast, winding-up by the court proceedings are therefore to be carried out in respect of this Maltese entity, particularly as the latter is no longer in a position to service its liabilities from existing or independently generated funds. As a consequence of this procedure, Management Board is expecting that this will ultimately result in a deconsolidation of this Maltese entity from the bet-at-home.com AG Group financials," the operator said in the release, adding that player balances of customers are in no way affected by this process.
However, bet-at-home.com said it does not expect the winding-up to have any material impact on the group's ongoing business activities, particularly in the key markets of Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland, as the discontinuation of the online casino in Austria had already eliminated the main operating business of Maltese bet-at-home.com Entertainment Ltd. In addition, the company said work is underway to open up new markets.
