Johann Graf

Johann Graf owns Novomatic Group, which operates casinos worldwide and also sells slot machines, video poker games and electronic table games. Raised by his grandparents in a small flat without running water, he apprenticed as a butcher and was expected to take over his family's butcher shop.Instead Graf began importing American pinball machines to Austria via Belgium, then became an agent for a British slot machine company.In 1980 he stuck out on his own with Novomatic, which he quickly expanded into Switzerland and then the East Bloc after the fall of the Iron Curtain.Novomatic's profits took a hit in 2017, due in part to heavy costs associated with meeting new German guidelines for gaming terminals.