Date: April 30, 2026 | Reading time: 13 minutes | Author: Marco Bellini
Italy has four authorised casinos, and each one exists under its own law. That is not a bureaucratic detail: it explains why they are where they are and why the entry rules are not the same.
Venice: from the Ridotto of 1638
The Casinò di Venezia traces its origin to the Ridotto, opened in 1638 in a wing of Palazzo Dandolo at San Moisè to give gambling a venue controlled by the Republic. It was closed in 1774 by the Great Council, which judged its effects on family fortunes. The present home is Ca' Vendramin Calergi on the Grand Canal, a Renaissance palace that also contains the rooms where Richard Wagner died in 1883; in summer the operation moves to Ca' Noghera near the airport, the first American-style hall in Italy.
Sanremo: 1905, Liberty style and music
The Casinò di Sanremo opened in 1905 to a design by Eugenio Ferret, in Liberty style. It was built to promote tourism on the Riviera and for decades doubled as a concert hall: from 1951 the Italian song festival was held here, and stayed until 1976. It is the clearest example of a model in which gambling funds the town that hosts it.
Campione d'Italia: 1917, the enclave
Campione d'Italia is an Italian exclave surrounded by Swiss territory on Lake Lugano. The casino was founded in 1917, in the middle of the war, with an openly diplomatic purpose. The current building, designed by Mario Botta, dates from 2007. The house went through a long crisis with the closure of 2018 and the reopening of 2022 — a story that says more about public accounts than about gambling.
Saint-Vincent: 1947, the mountains
The Casinò de la Vallée in Saint-Vincent opened in 1947 in Aosta Valley, a region with special statute, and over the following decades became a conference venue as well as a gaming hall. It is the youngest of the four and the most tied to a tourist season.
Four venues, four different laws, no single "national tradition". Anyone describing a long Italian casino tradition is describing four very different local histories, each born of a specific economic reason.
What you need to get in
All four require valid identification and legal age; entry is recorded. Dress rules vary and are published by each venue, as are table limits. None of the four admits anyone registered as self-excluded.
The practical difference from online casinos is exactly that entry register: in a physical hall you present a document, online the same function is served by identity verification and account limits. How to read a licence and how to check an operator is explained on our dedicated page.
The rest is legend
Tales of legendary wins and famous figures circulate around these rooms. Almost none has a checkable source, and the test for separating them from facts is the one we apply in Rolex at the Table: What Is Documented and What Is Legend: no date, no publication, no document — it is a story.
What can be verified are the numbers of the games, identical in Venice and in an online hall: they are in Blackjack and roulette: the real odds and the mistakes that cost. And if you are planning a visit, the useful part is the budget — Bankroll: how to manage your budget at the casino explains how to prepare it.
Play responsibly, 18+ only.
