Swiss Casinos Face Hard Times as Italians Gamble at Home

With black stilettos, a blond bob and a slash of red lipstick, Milanese accountant Maria Teresa De Gasperi is dressed for a night out in Switzerland. Her visits to Lugano’s casino have grown less frequent as her gambling budget declined. “A lot, lot less,” she said, referring to her spending while sitting on a sofa in the casino’s brightly lit foyer. The Swiss town of Lugano has been home to a casino for the past century and about 80 percent of the gamblers are Italian, according to its management. The town, south of the Alps beside a sparkling blue lake…