Online operator PokerStars has announced a partnership with Casinò di Campione spa – Società Benefit, an Italian brick-and-mortar casino located on the shore of Lake Lugano in Como, to launch and run a branded poker room in the casino.
The deal will see PokerStars run the room full-time, as well as hold live poker events. It’s too early to say whether the partnership could lead to EPT events taking place in Italy once more; Sanremo was once a mainstay on the EPT circuit, but Italy has not hosted an EPT since Victoria Coren Mitchell won her second title there back in 2014.
Victoria Coren Mitchell was the last player to win an EPT on Italian soil.The Casinò di Campione was first founded over a hundred years ago in 1917, while the current site opened its doors in 2007. It closed in 2018 but was relaunched in 2022.
The deal was agreed through Sisal S.p.A., a leading Italian gaming operator which forms part of Flutter - PokerStars’ parent company. PokerStars already runs physical poker rooms in other locations around the world, including at the London Hippodrome in the UK, and Manila in the Philippines. The 4-year partnership announced today includes the possibility of extending for a further three years.
