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Mind of Federico Brunato: In the heart of Europe’s Festival Poker
- King's Casino, led by CEO Federico Brunato, is a European poker hotspot.
- Federico's leadership focuses on strategy, improvement, and team empowerment.
- Plans for future growth include major poker events like the King's Million.
King's Casino CEO Federico Brunato
(credit: Federico Brunato Linkedin)
The Czech Republic has quietly become the beating heart of European live poker, and King's Casino is the reason why. With iconic venues in Prague and Rozvadov hosting some of the top poker events in the world, the brand has built a legacy that only few can match.
Now that WSOP Europe, EPT, and other top events have found their home at King's Casino, we thought it was the perfect time to get a slice from the mind of the man steering it all: CEO Federico Brunato.
In this interview, we take a closer look into Europe's festival poker and get to know the visionary who helped elevate it.
…never forget where you started and the path that brought you to where you are today…
Can you tell us about your background and how you first entered the gaming and casino industry?
I was born in Turin (Italy), but at the age of eight we moved to the Czech Republic (Pilsen), where I dedicated myself fully to playing football from a young age. I attended a football academy that produced stars such as Pavel Nedvěd and Petr Čech, and I played for the local top-division club FC Viktoria Plzeň.
I got into poker at around 16 through YouTube videos of Poker After Dark. When I was 17, I started organizing small poker tournaments at school, €2 rebuy events in a pub across the street. The first edition had 3 tables, then it grew to 5, then 6, and so on, gradually attracting more players than the local poker clubs in the city.
At that time, I was studying and still actively playing football. I used to play poker tournaments in local clubs whenever I had the time. While studying, I decided that an ideal way to earn money would be to work as a part-time dealer at King’s Casino (At that time, it was a very small casino with only a few tables) and didn’t really see my future in this industry. However, my natural drive to fix things that didn’t seem to work properly kept pushing me forward.
Even after graduating in International Relations, I decided to stay and accept an offer for a position as a Poker Manager. Looking back, I’m grateful for how things turned out. Even though I successfully completed my degree, I can hardly imagine myself working as a diplomat at the UN today.
What were the key steps in your career that led you to become CEO of King’s Casino Group?
For me, there is one rule that has always mattered: never forget where you started and the path that brought you to where you are today. In my experience, many people in senior positions lose sight of this and that’s often the beginning of the end. What has probably driven me the most is a constant need to improve things whenever I had the opportunity.
I’ve never tried, and never will try, to be a boss. I aim to be a leader, someone who leads by example, who is willing to get their hands dirty first, and who shows that the first step is to do things yourself before asking others to do them.
Just as important is helping people understand the purpose behind what they do. It’s essential to explain the importance of everyday tasks so that everyone realizes how critical their role is in the functioning of such a large company. Only then can you build real ownership and commitment.
Remembering the times I spent sitting at the tables for hours, sometimes even because of poor decisions made by my superiors, helps me make sure that people in our company don’t have to go through the same situations. And that, for me, is key to building both respect and a strong, sustainable culture.
How would you describe your role today, and what does your job actually involve across the group’s different operations?
I’ve been CEO since October 2025, so relatively speaking, not for very long. Before that, I served as Poker Director of the company from September 2018. In many ways, I’m still in a transition phase, where I continue to handle certain tasks even as CEO, such as working on tournament schedules throughout the year and various aspects related to our poker festivals.
I’m surrounded by great people, but it’s not easy to pass on know-how in areas that are, in many ways, the heart of a resort like King’s.
Poker is something we run 365 days a year, and with more than 2,000 tournaments across Rozvadov and Prague, we are the most active poker room in the world. Transferring that level of experience and detail simply takes time.
That said, it’s only a matter of time. We are gradually implementing new processes to ensure the business is not dependent on a single individual. My focus now needs to shift more toward the bigger picture, making key decisions, and setting the long-term strategic direction of the company. This is what will ultimately determine whether the company grows or declines in the future, and with more than 800 people already working for us, the responsibility is significant and not something I take lightly.
Looking back on your career so far, what are you most proud of having achieved?
I think I’m most proud of the team we have right now, because in today’s world, that’s not something you can take for granted. Working in a strong and positive environment is key to success. In terms of achievements,
I’m particularly proud of several brands we created together as a team over the years, German Poker Masters, Czech Poker Masters, King’s Million, and many others. We’ve already had dozens of tournaments with more than 5,000 entries, and just last year, we managed to run two tournaments in a single month with over 7,000 entries each.
I’m also proud of the strategy behind the WSOPE Main Event in Rozvadov, which kept breaking records year after year. For a €10K event in Europe, that was something truly unprecedented. And along the way, several players turned into millionaires starting from tournaments with buy-ins as low as €250.
King’s Resort Rozvadov has become one of Europe’s best-known poker destinations. What do you believe has been the key to that success?
I believe the key lies in building a strong long-term strategy while always having a Plan B and C ready. In the end, it’s about thinking ahead and constantly refining every detail of the events we deliver. We know where our strengths and weaknesses are, but at the same time, we’re not afraid to aim high.
In my view, many competing casinos spend too much time reacting to what others are doing instead of focusing on their own direction, which often results in rushed and short-sighted decisions.
Since September 2018, when I became Poker Director, I’ve consistently emphasized that we need to set clear goals and achieve them step by step. Our ambition should be to create trends in the industry, not follow them.
How important is the recurring year-round poker tournament schedule in Rozvadov to the overall business, beyond the major festival stops?
Since I’ve essentially been responsible for the planning myself since 2018, I can say with certainty that it is absolutely key in many respects. It truly is the heart of the business. Each event has to target a slightly different type of player, week by week, only in this way can you maintain a stable and sustainable business.
At the same time, you need to constantly introduce new formats and variations to keep things fresh. Overall, King’s Resort is what it is today primarily because of its poker events. Of course, we also offer many other top-quality services, but in the end, people travel from afar mainly for unique offers and that’s exactly what we deliver in poker.
What are the biggest strategic and operational differences between Rozvadov and Prague?
King’s Resort is a place that brings together elements not commonly found in other casinos across Europe, luxurious surroundings, professional staff, and a unique overall offering. When new guests arrive, they often say it feels more like a Las Vegas–style resort than a typical European venue, which is also why we’ve earned the nickname “RozVegas.”
On the other hand, King’s Prague is a smaller casino located within the largest hotel in the Czech Republic, making it more suited to a tighter community. At the same time, it allows us to host two to four truly large-scale events per year. These come with higher organizational costs, as we need to rent additional spaces and expand the gaming area, but in return, they offer a completely different and unique experience for players. Of course, Rozvadov as a location can never offer what Prague does and that’s simply a fact.
The move of WSOP Europe from Rozvadov to Prague was a major talking point in the poker world. How did you view that decision internally, and what did it mean for the group strategically?
Was a new challenge, and I personally enjoy challenges, just like the rest of the team. In many ways, it was a natural evolution of the event after all those years and an opportunity to take it to the next level.
That said, for me, WSOPE will always be closely connected with Rozvadov, where we managed to break a 10-year-old Main Event record for several years in a row. At the same time, it has already been shown that the combination of Prague and WSOPE will almost certainly continue to bring many record-breaking results in the future, and I’m really looking forward to what’s ahead.
The result of the first WSOPE Prague Main Event, with the buy-in adjusted to €5,300, was incredible, and we believe it’s just the beginning.
There was a lot of discussion about the date clash with the Irish Poker Open. Did that affect your original projections in any meaningful way, or did the record numbers at both events show the market was strong enough to absorb it?
From our side, there wasn’t really much choice. When you’re dealing years in advance with the largest conference hotel in Europe, like Hilton, you either take the dates that are offered to you or risk not having the event at all for the next years.
Of course, I’m happy that both events turned out very well, even though they could have performed even better if they had been scheduled at different times. But as I always say, not everything is within your control. On the other hand, many players had the option to choose between events, which is never a bad thing for poker players.
I see live poker as a game with a unique appeal, showing steady long-term growth, but much like the stock market, it goes through cycles of stronger and weaker periods. At the moment, we are in a more favorable growth phase, but how long it lasts will largely depend on how well operators take advantage of the current momentum. So yes, at the moment the market is capable of sustaining even two such large events running at the same time, and hopefully that will continue in the future as well.
King’s has built strong collaborations with major brands such as the WSOP Circuit. How important have those partnerships been to the growth and positioning of the business?
For us, partners are absolutely key. We currently work with partners from across Europe, and in many ways, we continue to grow together year by year.
The best part is that we’ve now reached a position where we can be selective, we place strong emphasis on working with partners we can truly trust, and who are committed to improving together with us with every event. At the moment, we have such partners, and we are actively looking for more for the years ahead.
There are brands we’ve been working with for many years, but while these partnerships used to be more exclusive, today they are more frequent, with events taking place several times a year, such as the WSOP Circuit. This has both advantages and disadvantages.
One downside is that players no longer perceive them as being as exclusive as they once were. That said, we always try to bring something unique to each edition to differentiate it from others, even though it’s not always easy.
How do you see the relationship between King’s as a venue brand and the major international poker brands you work with?
Nowadays, most of the brands at King’s that attract players from across Europe are actually our own, so the connection is clear, and for many players, certain brands have become synonymous with King’s Resort.
At the same time, brands like WSOPE and EPT are now, and I believe will continue to be closely associated with King’s Prague. Prague is simply a magical city, one of the most beautiful in Europe, and players tend to fall in love with it from their very first tournament.
Most importantly, behind each of these brands there are entire teams, and I have to say that today we have the privilege of working with some of the best teams in the poker world. It’s always inspiring for our staff, and we continuously learn from each other on how to move both our companies and brands forward together.
Looking ahead, what is your long-term vision for King’s Casino Group, and what kind of legacy would you like to leave through your work?
Over the next few years, a major part of our focus will be on developing the new brand, the King’s Million European Poker Championship. It’s a project we strongly believe in and one that will play a key role in our long-term strategy. The concept includes a Super Main Event with a €1,150 buy-in and a record-breaking €5,000,000 guarantee, with the first edition already scheduled for this September.
Our ambition is to build this festival into a must-attend event, similar to WSOPE, for both passionate and recreational players. At the same time, our goal is for every event to bring hundreds of new players into poker, because that is the foundation not only for our own growth, but for the growth of the entire poker ecosystem. We also have ambitions to expand and are actively looking for strategic opportunities, of which there are still many today.
We thank you, Mr. Brunato, for the interview and for your personal stake in elevating European live poker to the level we can enjoy today.
Who is Federico Brunato?
Federico Brunato is the CEO of King's Casino, the operator behind two of Europe's most iconic live poker venues in Prague and Rozvadov, Czech Republic. Under his leadership, King's Casino has grown into the continent's premier festival poker destination, attracting landmark events like WSOP Europe and EPT.
- Role: CEO, King's Casino (Prague & Rozvadov)
- Nationality: Italian
- Based in: Plzeň, Czech Republic
- Known for: Transforming King's Resort Rozvadov into Europe's largest poker room
- Career background: Started as small-scale poker event hustler. Hospitality and gaming industry executive with extensive experience running large-scale live poker operations.
- Notable achievements: Secured WSOP Europe and EPT for King's Casino venues; launched the €10M GTD Kings Million European Poker Championship
- Philosophy: Dream Big! Live Bigger!
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