The CCC chain is now shut down.
The Concord Card Casinos (CCC) of the famous Austrian "poker king" Peter Zanoni, famous for being popular in Europe, are shutting down permanently. The main reason for this closure is an ongoing dispute with the tax authorities over massive tax debts in the millions. The country's largest poker casino chain has been bankrupt since June 2019, leading to over 600 employees losing their jobs. Here's a summary of the situation.
A Demoralizing Situation
"It is with great sadness that I announce the permanent closure of Concord Card Casinos as of today," said Peter Zanoni, the casino owner, to his employees. Zanoni, calling himself a poker king, has lost the fight against the authorities and has given in. For years, Zanoni had been in legal battles relating to his tax debts, describing it as a "David versus Goliath" battle.
"This battle is now over," said Zanoni to local media. Zanoni has always criticized the fact that the Austrian tax authorities do not tax his winnings, but instead the stakes of poker players. However, he admitted he had no control over this and had been sidelined in favor of partially state-owned Casinos Austria. The statement read:
"For every euro I make, I have to pay a five euro levy, and this doesn't include the victim's relief and the entertainment tax separately, each of which has a crushing impact."
Over 600 million euros in tax debts
Despite a few unanswered complaints sent to the Constitutional Court (VfGH) and ongoing proceedings at the European Court of Justice, Zanoni says the closure of the casino chain cannot be delayed anymore. The reason for this is the massive tax debts of around 600 million euros. "Even the Almighty cannot pay this amount," says Zanoni.
Zanoni, who has over 600 employees in Austria, stated that his annual revenue now stands at 30 million euros, making it impossible to sustain the business. Every day without closure results in negative growth for the poker casinos, which were already insolvent by June 2019. Raids were conducted by the financial police in January due to the multi-million euro debts, causing the voluntary closure of the casinos and the cancellation of a 100,000 euro poker tournament. Recently, Zanoni reopened seven out of twelve establishments and publicly announced that gambling would be provided for free, awaiting decisions from the judiciary. He also started a citizens' initiative for free poker.
Possible Threat to Free Poker
With this initiative, Zanoni wanted to draw attention to the monopolization of free Austrian poker. He said the goal was to highlight the underlying policy of the Austrian government in the name of player protection and combating crime. Zanoni's poker licenses expired on December 31, 2019. As a result, since then, players have only been allowed to play at Casinos Austria. According to Zanoni, this is "sneaky legislation."
"National assets, player protection, jobs, a proper industry - all these aspects are being sacrificed," was the clear message of the initiative. The free, competitive poker game in Austria was expected to vanish from the market due to monopolization, which would "inevitably push players into illegal areas" or neighboring countries like the Czech Republic.
Zanoni claimed that players are not switching to the licensed Casinos Austria because of high split limits. While CCC limits were low, with daily losses of 50 to 60 euros per hour, inexperienced players at Casinos Austria face hourly losses of 2,000 to 2,500 euros. Not everyone could afford this; thus, customers would eventually end up with illegal providers.
A Sad End to a Popular Poker Center
With the final closure of the CCC chain, 600 employees will lose their jobs, and Europe will lose a renowned international poker center. Vienna was known for hosting the biggest poker tournaments: the European Poker Tour (EPT) and the World Poker Tour (WPT). According to Zanoni, these tournaments generated "thousands of overnight stays per year" for Austria as a business location.
The Vienna poker tournaments were popular for their celebrity participants, including tennis star Boris Becker, Pamela Anderson, the lead singer of the band EAV Klaus Eberhartinger, and renowned poker player Daniel Negreanu. CCC Vienna dealers have also made headlines, with one being hired for the 2006 James Bond movie, Casino Royale.
26 Years of Legal Turmoil
The closure of CCC followed a 26-year legal conflict, according to the Austrian newspaper Kurier. Over time, Zanoni lost all pending legal suits in recent years, with the latest one being in Vorarlberg, concerning the aforementioned victim's relief of 97.6 million euros.
[] image: --] (https://www.culturradio.at/news/2021/martin-kiss-der-busen-in-der-poker-branche.html)
[= Peter Zanoni] (- peter-zanoni)
[ *Tax dispute] --(-)
[- Legal dispute has been ongoing for years- Debts estimated to be around 600 million euros- Closure affects 600 employees- Several lawsuits unanswered in judiciary- CCC known for hosting big poker tournaments- Several cancellations and re-openings of casinos- Plans to make gambling free during the legal dispute- Citizens' initiative against monopolization and the disappearance of free poker- 26 years of legal battle precedes the closure]
Creditreform reports that CCC's negative equity amounted to approximately €130,478,880.34, and the company's equity ratio was -5,472%. Creditreform also reveals that Peter Zanoni was previously involved in a significant insolvency with CBA Spielapparate - und Restaurationsbetriebs GmbH. Zanoni claims that the bankruptcy of this company was also partially caused by "incredibly high taxes."
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Source: www.onlinecasinosdeutschland.com
