One of the biggest casinos in Europe, King’s Casino, has made an announcement that all Italians are banned from visiting the property to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. The news came after the first confirmed case of the virus in the Czech Republic, the home to King’s Casino.
Right now there are more than five confirmed cases in this central European country, and two of them visited Italy prior to contracting the virus. The situation in Italy is getting pretty severe, as there are now more than 3,000 cases, with 140-plus deaths.
The casino statement says that the casino will cancel and limit access to all residents from Italy indefinitely. Moreover, all events that are mainly targeted at the players from Italy will be canceled for March and April 2020.
According to the statement, the casino officials will monitor the current situation, hoping to remove the imposed limits to an audience they are “very fond of.”
King’s Casino has the largest poker room in the entire continent of Europe, and that’s why players from all over the Old Continent like going there to enjoy the popular card game. In fact, the casino hosts dozens of poker tournaments throughout the year, and Italians love going there and taking part in them.
One of the most important poker tournaments of Europe, the World Series of Poker Europe has been part of King’s Resort since 2017, and it will remain there until 2021.
The WSOP Europe is usually scheduled for October, meaning the announcement will not affect it at the moment. However, all casinos in the world need to monitor how the whole thing develops to know how to schedule events long-term.
Malta Poker Championship Will Not Take Place
Malta is an island in the Mediterranean, and it is one of the best places for casino lovers. One of the popular poker festivals there, Malta Poker Championship, has been canceled due to coronavirus outbreak.
The series is scheduled for May 23 and 24, but the officials decided to cancel it nevertheless. It usually takes place at Portomaso Casino and attracts players from all over Europe and the world. At the moment, there are no cases reported in the island country of Malta.
But this event is not the only thing that was canceled. As a matter of fact, various sports, esports, and other events all over the globe have been either canceled or postponed due to the fear of the coronavirus. Right now, many sports matches are taking place in empty stadiums to minimize the virus from spreading.
The entire casino industry of the world is now closely monitoring how the virus progresses. If things continue to develop, we could expect some significant changes, especially when it comes to various poker events that take place in casinos around the globe.
So far, Macau has been hit the hardest with a two-week shutdown that was ordered by Macau officials.
