The King’s Casino in Rozvadov has become a hot bed of poker activity over the past few years as players from around the world visit the venue to take part in major tournament events. The largest poker room in Europe has always been welcoming and open to players from any location. However, now with the coronavirus outbreak in full swing, the venue has decided to ban players from Italy from entering the premises.
Italian Player Ban
The casino is worried that poker players will be exposed to the virus if players from Italy are allowed entry into the venue. Right now, just under 100,000 cases of the coronavirus have been reported around the globe. The poker room is currently concerned about the outbreak as it pertains to Italy, which is why they are focusing a ban from that region.
In their request, King’s Casino stated that they regret to inform their customers that due to the epidemic of the coronavirus and that cases have been contracted in Prague due to a visit to Italy, they are banning players from the region in order to safeguard the health of international guests to the property.
They want to prevent the further spread of disease and will be shutting off all sections of the casino to players from the country, including refusing hotel reservations from those who are a resident of or are coming from Italy. The change will be ongoing until specified otherwise. All events in March and April have been cancelled that mainly target players from Italy.
Continued Information
King’s Casinos stated they plan on continuing to evaluate the situation and will follow any new developments as they are made known. The goal is to eventually remove the ban so players from Italy can visit the facility once again. For now, the poker calendar will remain intact from May 1st onwards.
The decision to block players from Italy is a big one, especially for the online poker room. It also begs the question as to if this same decision will take place in other countries, including the United States. Travel has already become a problem around the world as restrictions are in place to and from regions where the coronavirus is more prevalent.
Poker players in the US are worried about the upcoming World Series of Poker and if the virus will end up causing the series to be cancelled or perhaps a poor turnout. The series will have 104 total events with around 14 of those being online. It is expected that the online turnout will be high as players can take part safely from home or a hotel.
If travel restrictions are enhanced in the US, we could see players having a difficult time making the trip to Las Vegas to take part in the WSOP.
For now, we will stay tuned to all poker room closings and report on any changes as they occur.
