After closing its doors in 2018, Casinò di Campione reopened on January 26, 2022 but without poker. I was excited to read in September 2024 that PokerStars were launching a Poker Room and Live Events in Campione d’Italia and eagerly awaited to hear the opening date.

Campione d'Italia is an enclave surrounded by the Swiss Canton of Ticino on the shores of Lake Lugano. According to Wikipedia, at its closest, the enclave is less than one kilometer from the rest of Italy.

PokerStars announced Casinò di Campione as their first PokerStars Open stop in 2025, so from March 10 to 16 many D.A.CH players and players from Italy will be heading to Campione d’Italia to play the 1M EUR guaranteed PokerStars Open Main Event.

Since I live in Zurich, about 215 KM away from Campione d’Italia, players had asked about my experience at the property but I could only tell them my experiences without poker, that is – until now.

Luckily, I know some Italian and found out through Assopoker that the new PokerStars room, under the supervision of Luca Pagano in Casinò di Campione, was opening its doors on February 20th and hosting an Opening freeroll and a weekend of tournaments as well as adding Campione Open Tickets to each event.

We booked a hotel in Lugano and drove from Zurich to Lugano on Friday to play in some of them.

HOTEL

We chose to stay at the Ibis Lugano Paradiso Hotel which is also one of the Poker Stars Travel hotels for the March Poker Stars Open Event. It is a three- star hotel but shares a lobby, a restaurant and parking lot with the 4 Star Novotel property. It is an economical choice, clean and centrally located in Paradiso with a pharmacy nearby as well as banks, bakeries and grocery stores. The Funicular San Salvatore, a sightseeing highlight is also in walking distance. More details on Paradiso, Ticino as a destination can be found here.

Like all hotels in Switzerland, every guest needs to pay a city tourist tax at the property. In our case, it was 5.45CHF per person per night. We were also charged 23CHF per day for unlimited entry/exit of the secure parking garage.

Players can also choose to stay in nearby Como in Italy but should keep in mind that this would involve passing border control in Chiasso frequently. Hotels in Italy are cheaper than those in Switzerland for those players wanting to save some money.

Transportation

As we arrived quite late, we decided to drive to the casino. From the Ibis, you can take the highway or the scenic route along the lake and the drive takes around 15 minutes. Alternatively, there are several public transportation routes to the casino and of course Uber. There is also a boat that goes from Paradiso to Campione d’Italia but it runs on a very limited schedule through April 5.

The Casino has a parking lot and we were early enough to park in this lot. If this main parking is full, there are several municipal parking lots as well as charging points for e-vehicles.

Casinò di Campione

Entering the casino, there weren’t any major renovations that I could remember from my last visit. Like most casinos in Europe, we had to check-in to enter the casino. We were asked for a valid ID and since it was our first time in the casino, we had to agree to certain conditions on the touch screen. This is where it got a bit complicated for us.

The first thing that they asked me to do was to scan my finger print. I was a bit reluctant and asked for further clarification. She explained that scanning my fingerprint would allow faster access to the slot machines (Casinò di Campione is in fact a Novomatic Casino) but since I am not a slot player, I politely declined. I also had to agree to accept a small gift from the casino and to be issued a casino card. I obliged and was issued a casino card and entered through the turnstiles. My travel partner did not agree to the terms, so was not issued anything but was allowed in the casino. You do need to allow yourself time on your first visit to sort out your casino card. It is a different system that I experienced in Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein but we were reassured by staff that this is the Italian system that is in place across the country. I highly suggest checking out their homepage before visiting.

The staff guided us through the turnstiles and we headed past the slot machines on the ground floor, the live table games and café on the second floor and headed to the third floor where the poker room is located.

The PokerStars Poker Room

We took the escalator from the 2nd to the 3rd floor and as we reached the top, we could see the Poker Stars logo everywhere and an open room full of poker tables.

The ceiling is quite high and there is an airy feel in the room. There are large windows on one side of the room and screens showing the poker clock. It is impressive, and quite different to the room players will remember from 2018, the largest change being it now occupies the entire 3rd floor and has its own dedicated snack bar and eating area.

All the poker tables had black chairs with an embroidered red PokerStars spade on the back as well as dealer chairs. There are more than 50 tables on the 3rd floor in the permanent PokerStars poker room. For the PokerStars Open in March, more casino areas and floors will be used to incorporate more tables.

The tables are those like you see at Poker Stars EPT events around Europe with a color-changing rail, with cup holders and a black felt with the PokerStars and Casino logos on them. The room was roped off with a cash game area and the tournament area. I did recognize many of the dealers and poker staff as many were from Ludos Academy engaged in the event.

The way to the cashier was signed and I asked to buyin for the Bounty Event. I forgot all of my EUROS at home but the cashier could exchange my Swiss Francs. For 200 CHF, I received 209 EUR, so I could buy into the event in EUROS. I then received a ticket and continued to the registration area to receive my seat assignment. I was then given my seat assignment and headed to the table. The dealer slid my 20K starting stack of new PokerStars branded chips to me and I played my first hand in the new room.

Poker Clocks, Schedules and Cash Games

The poker clocks are run on the LetsPoker system which means dealers can update bust outs on their tablets in real time and you can see them on the app. LetsPoker App lists all the upcoming tournaments for the Campione Poker Room and shows cash games. It even offers a chat function if you want to know which cash games are running or if you want to put your name on a cash game list. The App is free for players to download, so I do recommend downloading it to keep up to date on the tournament schedule.

PokerStars Open and Beyond

The PokerStars Campione room will be hosting daily tournaments and cash games leading up to the PokerStars Open taking place March 10 – 16 at the casino and aLL these tournaments have a Campione Open ticket (in worth of €1,100) added to the prizepool. In some cases, the tickets are awarded to the winner, on other occasions the daily chip leaders receive a ticket. All these details can be found on the LetsPoker App. Tournaments after the Poker Stars Open Campione will be listed on the app.

I am delighted that the PokerStars Poker Room in the Casinò di Campione will become a go-to destination for poker in Europe and I am very much looking forward to seeing their schedule for the remainder of 2025.

Casinò di Campione - Opening Weekend and Travel Tips