Ahead of this February’s ICE, NIGA chairman Ernest L. Stevens met with Novomatic’s CEO Harald Neumann for a tour of the company’s production facilities in Gumpoldskirchen.

Novomatic’s CEO and chairman of the board, Harald Neumann and the company’s CTO Thomas Graf received a high-level visit from Ernest L. Stevens, the most important representative of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA). “It is an honour to welcome Ernest L. Stevens to Gumpoldskirchen and give him an insight into our production. The National Indian Gaming Association is one of the most important organisations in the USA and is an important partner for Novomatic,” said Neumann.
The association represents around 250 Indian tribes that operate casinos in North America and is, therefore, among the most important customers of the Lower Aus- trian technology group.
“Novomatic products are known in the USA for their state-of-the-art technology, reliability and high quality, and thus it is very exciting for me to visit the company’s headquarters in Lower Austria,” Stevens stated.
With revenues of around €100bn, the USA remains the strongest market for the gaming industry. A substantial part of this is generated by some 250 Indian tribes, who operate 482 gaming facilities across 29 different states.
This has been the case since 1988 which marked the passing of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by the US Congress, which allows Indian Nations to operate casinos on their tribal territory.
The revenues of the Indian casinos do not have to be taxed and enable the tribes to invest in their communities. Revenues from gaming have made a significant contribution to the construction of general facilities such as schools, kindergartens and hospitals, providing the tribes with a way to safeguard their livelihoods.