The poker room at Casinò Admiral in Mendrisio is closing

Context

TL;DR

• The poker room at Casinò Admiral closes on November 30
• The project began on January 1st, 2022
• Redeployment and training are planned for the 15 collaborators
• Only The Barracudas will take place from November 19 to 29

Key facts

• Location → Casinò Admiral di Mendrisio
• Closing → November 30
• Project launch → January 1, 2022
• Staff involved → 15
• Person in charge → Cristiano Ruiu
• Final tournament → Only The Barracudas
• Tournament dates → November 19-29
• Lombard clientele → approximately 85% of clientele

On November 30, the poker room at Casinò Admiral di Mendrisio will cease operations, bringing an end to a project that has attracted enthusiasts from across the border for five years. The room had helped raise the casino’s profile, and news of the closure, widely discussed on social media, was confirmed by Cristiano Ruiu, marketing, poker and product development manager at Casinò Admiral.

Ruiu explained that the initiative began on January 1, 2022, while the pandemic was still ongoing, with the aim of revitalizing the casino. At the time, he recalled, Campione, a long-standing poker institution in the area, had not yet reopened. In his view, after five full years, the room has achieved its objectives.

The project and its assessment

The poker room expanded its clientele and gave Casinò Admiral visibility beyond the regional borders. The marketing manager attributed this result mainly to tournaments, which gave players visibility and generated articles in Italy, Switzerland and throughout Europe.

Ruiu gave a positive assessment of the experience, describing it as very good and positive, and described the closure as the natural conclusion of a journey. In his view, it is not a sinking ship, but rather a cruise ship that has reached port after completing its journey.

The manager’s wording confirms the November 30 shutdown without erasing the role played by the room during its years of operation. The project began during a particular period, when the pandemic was still ongoing and Casinò di Campione d'Italia had not reopened. Against that backdrop, Admiral had chosen to focus on poker to attract enthusiasts and increase its visibility.

The news therefore concerns a specific facility of Casinò Admiral di Mendrisio and not the end of the casino’s operations as a whole. Ruiu spoke about the poker room and its results, explaining that the project had achieved its goals after five full years. The room will nevertheless remain operational until the announced date, when operations will cease.

Operational details

The 15 employees and the economic reasons

The closure of the poker room raises the question of the future of the 15 employees who work there. Cristiano Ruiu reported that the announcement came in September, first to the staff committee and only afterward to the people directly concerned. The announcement preceded the end of operations, set for November 30.

ACE Swiss Holding, a sister company of Novomatic, has provided several options for the staff. Employees can be reassigned to other areas of the company, pursue training and retraining programs, or be transferred to another casino in the group. The source does not present a single solution for everyone, but describes a range of internal and group-wide options.

Ruiu emphasized the difference from a scenario in which the department would simply have been closed, leaving everyone without a job. In Admiral's case, however, he spoke of a company that had provided solutions for all the employees involved. The employment issue thus remains tied to the possibilities of reassignment, training, retraining and transfer indicated by the company.

Campione is not the cause

The resumption of operations at Casinò di Campione d'Italia could suggest that competition for the poker room in Mendrisio has intensified. Ruiu, however, ruled out this being the reason for the closure. In his view, the room had been opened to fill the void created by the bankruptcy of the company operating the casino and to respond to market demand.

This interpretation therefore rules out the possibility that the shutdown is due to Campione's reopening. The manager pointed to other factors: gaming taxes, among the highest in Switzerland, which squeeze an already limited profit margin, and staffing costs.

The issue of daily tournaments

The burden of the cost structure makes a schedule of daily tournaments impractical. Ruiu noted that, unlike Mendrisio, the other Swiss casinos do not offer tournaments every day because the cost-benefit ratio is difficult to sustain.

His assessment of poker remains positive, however. Ruiu considers it an excellent marketing tool, but one to be used for a limited period, as was done at Casinò Admiral. The room therefore served a promotional and visibility function, while the continuation of daily tournaments must contend with costs, gaming taxes and staffing.

The manager's account separates two aspects: on the one hand, the poker room's contribution to the casino's profile, and on the other, the economic sustainability of a daily schedule. The closure is thus attributed to the end of a project and a cost structure that is difficult to maintain, not to the reopening of Casinò di Campione d'Italia.

Key points

Ruiu remains in casino marketing

The closure of the poker room does not mark Cristiano Ruiu's exit from the sector. Casino marketing has been his profession for eleven years, across Campione, Lugano and Mendrisio, and he has said he wants to continue along this path.

In his approach, poker was one of the elements of Casinò Admiral's marketing strategy. The aim was to attract players without allocating resources to visitors outside the target audience. Ruiu distinguished between promotions designed for players and events aimed at other audiences: to bring players to the casino, he cited promotions involving chips or slot vouchers; an event with a sommelier, by contrast, would attract wine enthusiasts rather than players.

Alongside his work in casinos, Ruiu has collaborated with Telelombardia for 28 years and now considers this activity a hobby. The public profile he built in nearby Lombardy has also been useful to him in his work in Mendrisio, a casino frequented by many customers from Lombardy.

The source puts the proportion of Casinò Admiral's clientele from Lombardy at approximately 85%. Ruiu said he had tried to put his public profile at the service of the company he works for. The reference to Lombardy therefore concerns both his television career and the origin of a very substantial portion of the casino's clientele.

Recently, Ruiu also appeared as a commentator on RSI. His appearances, however, were sporadic and linked to the football World Cup. It is therefore not presented as a new regular activity, but as an occasional contribution connected to that sporting event.

The final tournament

Before the shutdown, the poker room at Admiral in Mendrisio has scheduled the final event in its operating history: Only The Barracudas. The final tournament will take place from November 19 to 29, so it will precede by a few days the closure of operations scheduled for November 30.

Ruiu invited the public to attend an event he considers historic. Whoever wins the tournament will be the last player to win a poker competition at Casinò di Mendrisio. The event will bring the project begun on January 1st, 2022, and the poker room's schedule to a close before operations conclude.

For enthusiasts, the dates given are November 19-29. For the 15 collaborators, however, the next step remains tied to the possibilities for redeployment, training, retraining or transfer already planned by ACE Swiss Holding within the company or group. For his part, Ruiu will continue working in casino marketing, building on the experience gained in Campione, Lugano and Mendrisio.

Source: tio.ch