For New Year’s Eve at the Casino di Campione d’Italia a dinner show “ International Burlesque Variety ” was scheduled. A return to the past, after three and a half years, the lights in the ” secular cathedral ” of Mario Botta, the Ticino architect, remained off following the closure of the enclave’s gambling house. No way. Covid, with the Omicron variant, also hit hard on the shores of the Ceresio. Not much or just for canceling the dinner show. But above all due to the fact that the reopening of the Casino scheduled by 31 December, due to the resurgence of the pandemic, has been postponed.
The decision was made in the afternoon by the Municipality of the enclave (sole owner of the gambling house) and by Casinò di Campione, spa, the management company of the only company in Campione, whose closure was ordered on 27 July 2018 by the judges of the Civil Court of Como which had ruled bankruptcy, revoking it at the beginning of the year after an intervention by the Court of Cassation. Bankruptcy that had led to the dismissal of almost 500 employees, in a reality with no alternatives. “At this point the opening of the Casino, ready in all its aspects, is postponed due to the resurgence of the pandemic which affects everyone, including many employees, and which makes a reopening in these conditions inappropriate”. This is what was communicated by Marco Ambrosini, CEO of the Casinò di Campione, around whom in recent years the activity of those who have worked for the success of a company that seemed impossible, that is to reopen the gambling house, has revolved.
The decision to postpone the reopening of the Casino was shared with the delegated judge Marco Mancini and the two commissioners appointed by the Civil Court of Como to follow step by step compliance with the conditions set for admitting Casino di Campione by the arrangement with creditors, which provides for the rehabilitation of the accounts (payables to be paid over five years amount to 130 million euros). Understandable the disappointment for the failure to reopen the Casino which, on the banks of the Ceresio, is seen as the turning point to revive the economy of Campione which for three and a half years has been experiencing a very difficult situation, also as a result of the fact that the Municipality in financial distress reduced its employees from 103 to 17. As a result, over 600 jobs have been wiped out. Only partially recovered with the reopening of the Casino. In fact, the new organic plant is made up of 174 employees, who will receive almost halved salaries compared to the past.