History of Gambling in San Marino

The history of gambling in San Marino goes back to the old times. Like the Italians, Sanmarinians like to play cards. But for a long time there were no official gambling houses and casinos here.

The earliest notice of Sanmarinese casino dates back to 1949. The story goes that the established gaming house was a tremendous success at a time, however, did not manage to last long because of the great Italian envy. For what it’s worth, we definitely know that the Sanmarinese gambling market became officially regulated in the year 2000, via the above-mentioned Law No, 67. It is curious that the first land-based casino was founded only 7 years later. San Marino, being one of the world’s smallest countries, annually attracts 100 times more tourists than its entire population. Fair enough, EUR casinos were seen as a powerful source of money for the country, therefore the single brick-and-mortar gambling institution — Giochi Del Titano is owned and operated by nobody other than Sanmarinese government.

In the 50-ies of the twentieth century, it was decided to create a luxury gambling establishment, where local residents and tourists could relax and have a rest. Just in the 50-ies, the construction of the Palace of Congresses with the poetic name Kursaal was completed. The government decided that it was an ideal place to host a casino, as well as a powerful radio station and television studio.


San Marino approved online casinos with the amendment to the original gambling Act, introduced in 2014. From that moment on, San Marino based online casinos have become subject to licensing, overseeing, and control to the same extent as the land-based casinos was. Local government does not seem to put as much focus on the internet casino sector as it does with Giochi Del Titano, however. 토토사이트 Country’s very own gambling license does exist but it has failed to become viable and attractive for anybody beyond local geography. The best online casinos for Sammarinese are run by foreign operators with foreign licenses. Creating a license competitive to those of Malta or Isle of Man would be a great chance for San Marino to magnet casinos from all over the world, however, no improvements in this direction are detected. Neither authorities are trying to prosecute offshore online casinos accepting San Marino players without a required domestic license. Unless the licensing system is properly approached, top online casinos for Sanmarinese players will remain to be based elsewhere.

Kursaal was used for other purposes, and in 1988 it was closed for the purpose of restoration. For 10 years the building stood untouched, only in 1998 the reconstruction work began. By 2002, the restoration was completed and it took 20 billion lire. But even after that the casino was never opened.

Only in 2012, the Grand General Council finally raised the question of how to modernize the Palace of Congresses and still open a casino in it. This time, there were arguments in favor of the fact that this would help attract tourists. Italy majestically did not intervene. So guests of the state-crumb on vacation can play cards or roulette.