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San Marinese, who have a well-developed imagination, suspect Maxim of being a Cominform agent. Said one ominously: "Around the roulette tables there will be created centers of intrigue and espionage." But on most nights during the first week's play scarcely 100 gamblers made the trek up the mountain. Nearly all were Italians from modest Adriatic beach resorts, with little money and no talent for intrigue.
Anti-Communists hoped that the casino would fold, and with it the republic's leftist regime. Gildo Gasperoni had been heard to say: "If the casino succeeds we will be all right. If it doesn't, then we pack our bags and go." If Gasperoni went, thought San Marinese, Maxim might also go. He might even go in a cloud of sulphur smoke.