Probably not all of our readers know about the history of Casinò di Campione, or even where the casino is located. So we dedicate the introduction of this article to this information in order to enrich our readers with something informative as well.
In Switzerland, but at the same time in Italy
Casinò di Campione is located in Campione d'Italia, which is an Italian municipality, *excluding inside the Swiss territory. It is a territory on the shores of Lake Lugano, south of Lugano, on the road to the Italian town of Como. The territory is an administrative part of the Lombardy region and is about 2 km from the Italian border. The present state was created after the canton of Ticino became part of the Swiss Confederation in 1798. The inhabitants of Campione chose to remain part of Lombardy, which joined Italy in 1871.
Campione d'Italia was one of four Italian towns to issue a casino licence and used this to operate the Casinò di Campione, as gambling laws here are less strict than in Italy or Switzerland. Although the euro is formally the only legal tender, in practice the Swiss franc is the main operating currency. However, the euro is generally accepted here.
Casino over 100 years old
The Casinò di Campione was founded in 1917, during the First World War, but was only open for two years. A few years later, on March 2, 1933 to be precise, it was reopened. On 9 May 2007, a new casino building was inaugurated in the immediate vicinity of the first location. The total cost of construction was approximately 193 million Swiss francs. The income from the casino was sufficient to run the entire Campione without levying taxes or raising any other revenue. With its nine floors and 55,000 m², it was once the largest European casino.
On 27 July 2018, the Court of Como declared bankruptcy on the casino because the casino was unable to pay the fees due to the Campione municipality, its sole shareholder, causing its financial collapse. In 2018, the casino's debts amounted to €132 million, of which €42 million were owed to the Campione d'Italia municipality. In December 2020, the Court of Cassation overturned the 2018 bankruptcy decision. On 26 January 2022, the casino reopened and rehired 174 former employees.
Links to PokerStars and Sisal SpA
Casinò di Campione was once the venue for such series as the European Poker Tour (EPT), the WSOPC and the Italian Poker Open. Just yesterday, September 10, the casino reached a new milestone with the signing of an agreement between Casinò di Campione, PokerStars and Italian gaming operator Sisal SpA. PokerStars will operate the poker room and bring world-class tournaments here.
PokerStars already operates poker rooms in various locations around the world, including The Hippodrome Casino in London and the PokerStars Live Poker Room at Okada Manila. The contract with Casinò di Campione is for four years, but with an option to extend for a further three years if successful.
More details on the opening date of this new poker room, the first tournaments or the upcoming big series will be available in the coming months.
Cedric Billot, Director of Live Events Operations at PokerStars, said: “We look forward to kicking off the partnership with Campione and offering the best poker experience to our passionate Italian audience. We are extremely proud to be announcing this agreement, having worked hard to get here, but this is just the beginning of an important chapter for the PokerStars brand in Italy. We will work together with the local Sisal team to make this a successful partnership and offer an epic ‘experience.”
*Exclave is a term from international law and refers to a part of one's own territory (e.g. a state) that is located in a territory that is completely surrounded by the territory of a foreign state or foreign states.
Source - pokernews, pslive, wikipedia, googlemaps, hippodromecasino.com
