A new era begins for the Casino of Campione d'Italia. After the bankruptcy declared on 27 July 2018 by the Court of Como, the largest gambling house in Europe is ready to reopen its doors from Wednesday 26 January 2022. In reality, the grand reopening had been announced for 31 December last, but the fourth wave of the pandemic blocked the inauguration by postponing the date to the end of January.
The Campione d'Italia Casino was the largest company in Campione d'Italia, the Italian enclave in Switzerland, in the Canton of Ticino, and located on the east coast of Lake Lugano. In its golden years, the Casino collected disproportionate amounts of money, up to 180 million francs a year, money that made it possible to finance numerous public Works but also to pay the salaries – of 482 employees and in line with the cost of living in Switzerland – of the managers and staff of the casino and of the Municipality (as many as 102 employees for a Municipality of just 2000 inhabitants). Then the crash. The impossibility for the Casino to pay the dues to the Municipality of Campione, the sole shareholder, led to financial instability. The prosecutor Pasquale Addesso asked for the bankruptcy of the casino following the millionaire debt created with the town hall . As of 30 April 2018, the debts already amounted to 132 million, of which 42 pertaining to the municipality of Campione d'Italia.
Since the gambling house has always been the only company in the exclave, with its closure and the collective layoff of employees, the whole country went into crisis. Shortly after the bankruptcy, the kindergarten and a center for the elderly also closed, also leading to numerous warnings from civil servants to the municipality for non-payment of salaries and contributions for the functioning of the structures.
In December 2020, the decision of the Court of Cassation to revoke the bankruptcy order. The company was thus able to submit an application for access to the composition with creditors procedure on a going concern basis. This proposal was accepted in the spring of 2021 and the Court of Como appointed the judicial commissioners and set the meeting of creditors for the vote on the proposal.
The managing director took care of the project Marco Ambrosini while the industrial plan was prepared by the management consultancy firm Vitale-Zane & Co.
Trade union organizations have also played their part. In November, the unions signed a collective labor agreement, after publishing a call for new hires and collecting 663 applications out of 174 vacancies. The new employment contract reflects the fundamental elements of flexibility and cost containment envisaged in the industrial plan approved by the Court.
Another actor who has played a key role in the reopening of the Casino is represented by Novomatic – a company active in the production of slot machines and related computer gaming systems – with which the Casinò di Campione has signed an agreement for the rental of 400 slot machines. The company has also defined the other contracts functional to the resumption of activity, among the main ones that of video surveillance, plant maintenance of the building, cleaning and other supplies. While contacts and insights will continue for the search for partners to whom to entrust the management of the restaurant - in this phase a catering service is provisionally provided - and of the commercial spaces.
In terms of governance, the first session of the new was held at the end of November board of directors, composed of Erminia Rosa Cesari (president), Marco Ambrosini (managing director) and Carmine Garzia (director).
In addition, the new one has been prepared in recent months statute of the company and the text of the new agreement which regulates the relations between the owner (the Municipality) and the management company of the Casino. As envisaged by the Plan approved by the Court, the transfers from the Casa da Gioco to the Municipality in the period 2022-2026 will be between 500 thousand euros (2022) and 2,5 million euros (2026). The times when annual transfers exceeded 30 million euros are therefore long gone.
