PokerStars Take-Over Casinò Di Campione’s Giant Poker Room
PokerStars, the biggest online poker site in the world with more than 225 billion hands dealt, 1.85 billion tournaments hosted, and the owner of the hugely successful European Poker Tour, has signed an agreement that will see it take over the running of the poker room at Italy’s Casinò di Campione.
The card room at the giant Casinò di Campione will now be run by PokerStars. ©AdmComSRL
The partnership will run for four years, with the possibility of an extension for an additional three years. PokerStars taking over the stewardship of the Casinò di Campione’s poker room appears to be a masterstroke by the Flutter PLC-owned brand. The poker community predicts that PokerStars will use the venue to stage numerous legs of its regional and global poker tours.
Located on the shore of Lake Lugano but encapsulated by Switzerland – as Campione d’Italia is an enclave – the casino is a behemoth on the European gaming landscape. At 55,000 square metres, it is bigger than Resorts World Birmingham – a casino and entertainment complex encompassing 50 shops, 18 bars, restaurants, a spa, a cinema and a hotel!
Stars Experience to Help Reborn Venue
PokerStars is widely lauded for running the world’s best live poker events. Last week, it celebrated 20 years of its European Poker Tour in Barcelona. PokerStars also manages state-of-the-art poker rooms around the world, including London and Manila. Its new land-based hub was opened in 2007 and was designed by the architect Mario Botta.
Botta is responsible for many notable buildings across the globe. His work includes the Cymbalista Synagogue and Jewish Heritage Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, the Central Library in Dortmund, Germany, and Évry Cathedral in France. It is the only cathedral that was built and also completed in France in the 20th century.
Botta’s casino vision cost €120 million, possibly not money well spent as, in 2018, Casinò di Campione was declared bankrupt with debts of €132 million. The venue lay dormant for over three years, devastatingly affecting the local economy, until rising from the ashes and re-opening in January 2022.
A Fresh Start and Everyone Is Happy
PokerStars involvement with Casinò di Campione was agreed following an autumn 2023 tender process that saw ‘Casinò di Campione Spa – Società Benefit’ award the poker room rights to Sisal S.p.A., Italy’s leading gaming operator and part of Flutter Group. It is, in essence, PokerStars cousin.
Reflecting on the new allegiance, Cedric Billot, Director of Live Event 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 announce this agreement, having worked hard to get here.”
Mario Venditti, Chairman of Casinò di Campione Spa – Società Benefit, commented: “With the poker tournaments, Casinò di Campione starts again with the competitive events that qualify its offer, enlivening the calendar of one of Europe’s most important gaming houses. This is a further step forward in the development of the company’s activity, which will undoubtedly increase its visibility”.
Geography Suggests Campione Should Be a Full House
The leading online poker site has had dealings with Casinò di Campione in the past. In 2012, the venue hosted a European Poker Tour (EPT) leg. However, by comparison, the EPT has stopped off in Sanremo, also in the north of Italy, seven times, and the now defunct PokerStars Italian Poker Tour made 18 visits to Sanremo in five years.
With PokerStars support, Casinò di Campione will likely host many more marque festivals in the coming years, including annual EPT events. The venue is geographically well-positioned, being easily accessible from Turin and Milan airports. Switzerland, France, Austria and Slovenia are all within driving distance. Resultantly, it is not difficult to predict a bright future for the once-struggling venue.
