The Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries Group will appoint a new chairman next month to succeed Wolfgang Hesoun, who is stepping down after six years in the role.
Hesoun was appointed chairman of the Supervisory Board in December 2020 as part of a reorganization of the board, but will step down after the company’s Annual General Meeting in March.
He is set to be succeeded by Robert Zadrazil, who has been nominated by ÖBAG, the state holding company that represents the Austrian government’s 33.24 per cent interest in the group.
Zadrazil is best known for his long and successful career within the UniCredit Group, where he spent over 24 years, including as CEO of UniCredit Bank Austria between March 2016 and April 2024.
Following his tenure as CEO, he transitioned to the role of country manager for UniCredit in Austria, representing the group’s interests in the region until his departure from the bank in August 2025.
“I am delighted that we have been able to recruit Robert Zadrazil, an excellent manager with many years of supervisory board experience,” said ÖBAG executive board member Edith Hlawati. “He will lead both supervisory boards very effectively with his expertise and understanding of regulations.”
Outgoing chairman Hesoun said that after careful consideration he had decided not to stand for re-election to his positions on the supervisory boards of Casinos Austria and Austrian Lotteries.
“This decision expressly applied even in the event of a possible nomination by a minority shareholder,” Hesoun said. “The reasons for this lay in developments of the past months, during which I had the impression that I did not have the support from the board of the minority shareholder that would have been necessary to successfully guide the company through the process of regaining the licenses.
“I would like to thank the board, the employee representatives and the staff of Casinos Austria Group, as well as the representatives of the majority shareholder Allwyn, for the very trusting and appreciative cooperation over the past years. I wish the company continued success in these challenging times.”
The Austrian government is currently weighing up whether to maintain the current state monopoly or move to a multi-licence system.
Six of Casino Austria’s land-based casino licences are set to expire at the end of 2027, as well as the lucrative National Lottery licence and the sole licence for online gambling, which is held by Casino Austria’s win2day.
The nomination of Zadrazil as chairman is directly tied to this. As a former banking CEO with deep regulatory experience, he has been brought in to navigate these negotiations and ensure Casinos Austria is in the best position to win back its licenses in the 2027 tender.