The Fitzwilliam Card Club has been a very popular and often very busy Dublin land-based casino and one that has been welcoming avid gamblers for 16 years, however Southern Ireland is now one casino short due to the sudden closure of that casino.
With no hunt that the casino was about to close, staff turned up as usual yesterday to man the card and table games, however they were all told the news that the venue was closing with immediate effect and as such some 80 people employed at the casino were no longer needed.
The reason the casino was forced to close was nothing to do with it not being financially viable, in fact the casino was always a profitable venue, the reason what some recent changes to gambling laws in Ireland that meant the casino could no longer operate legally.
Having previously been operating under the Gaming and Lotteries Act 1956 the casino could operate perfectly legally in Dublin, however on the 11th of December this year the Gaming and Lotteries (Amendment) Bill 2019 was passed into law, and that Bill is where the problem lays.
The amendment made it impossible for the Fitzwilliam Club to obtain a gaming permit or a gaming license and as such upon legal advice they had no other option but to close the venue down, rather than fall foul of the law and risk the serious implications of doing so.
The management team have however assured all staff members that have now lost their jobs that they will be paid any money owed and any and all payments due as part of them losing their jobs will be guaranteed.
