Change Requested in Poker Club Restrictions : Cudahy May Alter Gambling Law

The City Council on Monday will consider lifting restrictions on the types of card games and other entertainment to be allowed at a proposed poker club.

Charles King, developer of the $15-million Silver Saddle Casino, requested the changes in December, saying they are needed to make his poker club competitive with other Southeast-area gambling facilities.

Under the city’s current poker ordinance--approved by voters by nearly a 2-to-1 margin in December, 1982--card games at the casino will be limited to draw poker and panguingue. King said that restriction poses a problem if the state legalizes games like seven-card stud. Other clubs in the area already offer attractions such as free meals or telecasts of blacked-out sporting events, he said.

Opponents of the measure say, however, dropping restrictions would drastically alter the type of poker club the city would have. Some fear the proposed changes would help make the club a magnet for crime and corruption.

Supporters’ Arguments

Poker club supporters such as Mayor Lynwood Evans disagree that a wider variety of card games at the club will attract an undesirable element. They also point out that the club will generate much-needed revenue--up to $2 million a year by some estimates--for the city.

“If we wanted dirty money in here, we could probably get it,” Evans said, referring to recent scandals involving poker clubs in the cities of Bell and Commerce. “What we’re trying to do is help this city.”

The council Dec. 17 gave the proposal preliminary approval on a 3-2 vote. Evans and council members Gabe Zippi and Faye Dunlap voted in favor of the measure. Councilmen John Robertson and Joseph Graffio opposed it. All have said they intend to vote the same way Monday night.

Robertson and Graffio have spoken out sharply against any changes in the card club regulations. The changes would go against the spirit of the poker club ordinance approved by voters in 1982 and put the city in a precarious legal position if a court challenge arose, Roberston said.

Court Challenge Possible

Evans said in an interview that Robertson and Graffio have “twisted and sensationalized” the issue.

Robertson countered Evans was “ignoring the facts.”

Graffio could not be reached for comment.

Robertson has pointed to a Dec. 13 memorandum to the council from City Atty. Steven Dorsey as proof of a possible court challenge. Robertson said the letter warns that the city could face legal problems if the council changed the poker ordinance.

Evans, however, said Robertson has misinterpreted the memo.

Among other points, the three-page memorandum said that the city could change the ordinance only if it were “in the public interest or welfare.” The memo, however, suggests ways to avoid those problems, Dorsey said. The changes now being considered by the council are in line with his advice, he said.

The key is that the council retains “ultimate control” over the games played at the club, Dorsey said. To add games, the card club owner would have to go before the council at a public hearing.

“The courts give great deference to city councils in this sort of thing,” Dorsey said, adding that the measure as now proposed “would have a better than even chance of being upheld” in court.

As yet King, the developer, has refused to disclose details about financing and the location of the club.