Casinò di Campione has announced a new partnership with Sisal S.p.A. and PokerStars to launch a dedicated poker room and host live poker events at its venue in Como, Italy. The agreement, finalized on September 10, 2024, is a four-year deal with the option for a three-year extension.
Under the terms of the partnership, PokerStars will manage an “always-on” poker room at Casinò di Campione, featuring a regular schedule of live poker tournaments. This will mark Casinò di Campione as PokerStars’ third managed poker room, joining The Hippodrome Casino in London and the PokerStars Live Poker Room at Okada Manila.
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… This is just the beginning of an important chapter for the PokerStars brand in Italy.”
Mario Venditti, Chairman of Casinò di Campione, added: “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.”
Italy has a storied history in the poker world, having previously hosted European Poker Tour (EPT) events in Sanremo and EPT Campione in 2012. However, Italy has not seen an EPT event since 2014, when Sanremo was a key venue from 2008 to 2014.
Casinò di Campione, which originally opened in 1917 and reopened in 2022 following closure in 2018, will now see PokerStars overseeing its poker operations full-time. The first live poker events under this new partnership are expected to be announced in the coming months.
Julien Liarte, PokerStars’ Live Events Senior Business Development Manager for Europe, noted that the company is expanding its presence through strategic collaborations with other major poker tours.
