Losing streak
Casinos are a licence to print money, right? Not this one
EACH hoping to win, and earn a lucrative contract with an Italian fashion house, earlier this month five aspiring Chinese models pranced along a catwalk in the ballroom of the casino in Campione d’Italia, a tiny Italian enclave in Switzerland. Around 500 Chinese residents in Italy were guests at the spectacle—broadcast on Chinese television—in Europe’s largest casino, a hulking yellow building looming over Lake Lugano.
In the gambling business it is generally a safe bet that “the house always wins”. However, the municipally owned casino managed to lose €40m ($54m) in 2011 and a further €28m last year. Business has since improved, slightly. As revenues in Italy’s four other casinos (two in Venice, the others in Valle d’Aosta and San Remo) declined in the first half of this year, those of Campione d’Italia rose by 0.5% to €46.5 million.
This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Losing streak”
From the September 21st 2013 edition
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