History

In 1898 Queen Margherita spent time in Saint-Vincent , where she enjoyed the therapeutic benefits of the ‘Fons Salutis’; as a result, the spa town became known as ‘The Italian Karlsbad’.
In 1921 the Mayor, Elia Page, applied to the Sub-Prefect of Aosta for permission to open a roulette room over the summer months. The sub-prefect agreed, but stressed the importance of keeping public order in the town, reminding the Mayor that this was his responsibility. That very summer, in the grand Kursaal room, the betting began; by September the local government had raised enough money, through taxes relating to gambling, to pay off the vast debt it had accrued after its project of canal construction in the mountains.

Towards the end of World War II the National Liberation Committee re-elected Elia Page. A few months later, on 6 November 1945, Page wrote to the Minister of Home Affairs – a post which, probably unbeknown to him, was temporarily held by the Head of the Government, Ferruccio Parri. Page applied for ‘exclusive permission to provide gambling games in the Aosta Valley for a period of 15 years’. He explained that ‘the majority of problems currently experienced by the town council of Saint-Vincent, and the councils of other towns in the Aosta Valley, are due to inadequate infrastructure; these problems would undoubtedly be resolved by money raised from the Casino.’ Page assured the Minister that he would notify him when ‘the negotiations with the company that can provide the best offer reach a serious stage’. This letter displays the Mayor’s determination to achieve his goal.

The request of Saint-Vincent’s Mayor was never officially answered, partly because the Parri Government fell on 23 November. 10 December marked the beginning of Alcide De Gaspari’s Government, which was preoccupied with other matters … Nevertheless, certain politicians, speaking ‘off-the-record’, communicated the Government’s willingness to grant permission to Page. Having received this unofficial ‘green light’ from the Government, Page took up pen and paper again and addressed a similar request, in French, to the Head of the Council of Aosta, the historian Federico Chabod. He wrote:

"a cui scrisse "forzando un po' la mano" che "le Gouvernement de Rome fit savoir, officiellement, que la précaire situation économique de la Vallée d'Aoste, son importance touristique et sa particulière situation géographique directement en contact avec deux pays étrangers et amis, appuyaient indiscutablement la demande" e la richiesta divenne "pour la période minime d'une vingtaine d'années".

Two factors made the granting of the official permission to open the Casino very difficult: Italian law explicitly prohibits gambling, and the Government was, at the time, waiting for the Special Statute of 1948, which would define the specific role and powers of the President of the Aosta Valley region. These difficulties notwithstanding, on 3 April 1946, a law was passed which granted permission to open the Casino. The decree, which authorized the casino for 20 years, referred to article 12 of the ‘lieutenant law’ (n. 545 of 7/9/1945), which had granted autonomy to the Aosta Valley. This article gave the region administrative powers over ‘tourism projects, hotels, environmental conservation, and the conservation of historical monuments and artefacts’.