{"id":97315,"date":"2019-01-29T07:16:22","date_gmt":"2019-01-29T15:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=97315"},"modified":"2019-01-29T07:16:22","modified_gmt":"2019-01-29T15:16:22","slug":"europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Europe\u2019s Oldest Casino\u2019 Closure Plunges Historic Italian Enclave into Dire Straits"},"content":{"rendered":"

The closure last June of the Casin\u00f2 di Campione \u2013 which claimed to be Europe\u2019s oldest casino \u2013 has hit the residents of the Campione d’Italia hard, The Telegraph <\/em>reported this week.<\/p>\n

\"Casin\u00f2
Casin\u00f2 di Campione moved to its larger, modernist location in 2007, a year before the recession kicked in. It has never recovered and was closed by court order over the summer. (Image: Casin\u00f2 di Campione)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tiny enclave on Italy\u2019s mountainous border with Switzerland and its population of around 2,000 people have relied on jobs and revenues generated by the casino since it opened in 1917, initially as an espionage front for wheedling intelligence from loose-tongued foreign diplomats during WW1.<\/p>\n

But when it was ordered by the courts to close last summer, it was around \u20ac73 million in debt, according to court filings. The list of creditors includes everyone from banks and other financial institutions, to high-rollers gambling on credit, to the village bakery and the local fire department. The casino\u2019s top brass is currently under investigation by authorities for financial mismanagement.<\/p>\n

Line of Creditors<\/strong><\/h2>\n

On Monday, around 200 creditors piled into a court in Como in a desperate effort to claw back some of the money they are owed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is hitting all the sectors, from the distribution chain to the taxi drivers to the bakers who brought bread to the casino restaurant kitchen,\u201d Fiorenzo Dorigo, a laid-off casino technician told The Telegraph<\/em>. \u201cEveryone gave them credit. No-one believed the casino would close from one day to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe town is collapsing. The little bars, pizzerias and stores are all in deep trouble,\u201d Dorigo added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A 1933 law decreed that revenues from the casino would cover the costs of operating the enclave, a mandate aimed at protecting Campione d’Italia, but over the years municipality had become too reliant on its biggest revenue generator.<\/p>\n

In 2007, the casino moved to new premises, expanding its floor space and table games and hiring more staff. The timing was bad. A year later, the recession kicked in — a downturn from which Italy, and the Casin\u00f2 di Campione, have never quite recovered.<\/p>\n

\n

Europe\u2019s Oldest Casino?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Casin\u00f2 di Campione\u2019s claim to be Europe\u2019s oldest is a curious one, especially when you consider it\u2019s not even the oldest casino in Italy. That honor goes to Venice\u2019s Casin\u00f2 di Venezia<\/a>, which is also recognized as the oldest in the world. Established in 1638, it beats Casin\u00f2 di Campione by nearly 300 years.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Germany\u2019s Kurhaus, Baden-Baden was established in 1834, while the Casino de Monte Carlo has been operating uninterrupted as a casino in the snazzy French enclave of Monaco<\/a> since 1856.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The closure last June of the Casin\u00f2 di Campione \u2013 which claimed to be Europe\u2019s oldest casino \u2013 has hit the residents of the Campione d’Italia hard, The Telegraph reported this week. The tiny enclave on Italy\u2019s mountainous border with Switzerland and its population of around 2,000 people have relied on jobs and revenues generated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":97319,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Europe\u2019s Oldest Casino\u2019 Closure Plunges Italian Enclave into Dire Straits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Casin\u00f2 di Campione was closed by court order over the summer but the move has plunged the 2,000-odd residents of Campione d'Italia, who relied on its revenues into economic hardship.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Europe\u2019s Oldest Casino\u2019 Closure Plunges Italian Enclave into Dire Straits\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Casin\u00f2 di Campione was closed by court order over the summer but the move has plunged the 2,000-odd residents of Campione d'Italia, who relied on its revenues into economic hardship.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-29T15:16:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/casino-campione1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2126\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1418\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/\",\"name\":\"\u2018Europe\u2019s Oldest Casino\u2019 Closure Plunges Italian Enclave into Dire Straits\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/casino-campione1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-29T15:16:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-29T15:16:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Casin\u00f2 di Campione was closed by court order over the summer but the move has plunged the 2,000-odd residents of Campione d'Italia, who relied on its revenues into economic hardship.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/europes-oldest-casino-closure-plunges-italian-enclave-into-dire-straits\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/casino-campione1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/casino-campione1.jpg\",\"width\":2126,\"height\":1418,\"caption\":\"Casin\u00f2 di Campione moved to its larger, modernist location in 2007, a year before the recession kicked in. 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