Casinos Seek Increase in Card Tables

Management at Gardena’s three card clubs are seeking city approval to double the number of tables allowed at each club, a move they say would give the city-licensed clubs more power to battle competition from larger casinos in other cities in Los Angeles County.

Edmond J. Russ, an attorney and former Gardena mayor who represented the clubs at last week’s City Council meeting, asked that the city raise the limit of 40 tables per club to 80 tables each at the Eldorado Club, the Horseshoe Club and the Normandie Casino.

The council is considering an ordinance that would allow the increase and would limit the total number of gaming tables in the city to 240.

Russ said the Normandie Casino, which is turning away customers on weekends because of lack of space, would be able to put in another 10 tables almost immediately, providing the city with an increase of $1,000 a day in tax revenue.

Audit of Club

Last April, city officials discovered that the Normandie Casino had exceeded the 40-table limit, and they ordered an audit of the club. The audit, by the independent firm Peat Marwick Main & Co., has not been completed, said Assistant City Manager Mitchell Lansdell.

“There’s no question the Normandie has been operating at maximum on weekends and has been turning people away,” Russ said. Club owners are hoping to steer the overflow of customers to the Horseshoe and Eldorado rather than lose them to clubs in Bell, Bell Gardens, Commerce and elsewhere in the county, he said.

“(Club owners) feel if they can attract the people to Gardena, they should be able to keep them in Gardena,” Russ said. “It would be like Vegas, where you wander from casino to casino.”

The Normandie Casino began filling all 40 tables last fall after adding Las Vegas-style stage acts, including star impersonators, in a nightclub setting.

Club owners say it is necessary to increase the number of tables to keep profits high, and they said they see the overflow at the Normandie as a loss of potential revenue. There have been steady increases in club revenues in recent years, following a slump in the early 1980s.

In 1986-87, the city received $2.9 million from club license fees, and that increased in 1987-88 to more than $3.5 million.

If the ordinance is approved, the table increase would not necessarily double the number of tables immediately because fire code regulations and additional requirements governing space and parking would have to be met, city officials said.

Vote Postponed

The council originally was considering the proposal as an urgency ordinance, but the vote was postponed until the council’s next meeting on July 12 after Councilman Mas Fukai questioned the need for urgency.

Russ responded that “the urgency is they’re competing with other clubs in other cities that have a lot more tables.”

Competition for more business is heating up at card clubs in other cities as well. The number of tables at the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens will increase from 120 to 150 by Sept. 1, and the Commerce Casino in Commerce recently installed nine tables for a total of 134.

Currently, 40 tables is the maximum allowed at any club in Gardena. Clubs must get approval from the council each time they add a table within that limit. Asst. City Manager Lansdell said the council will consider a separate ordinance that would allow club owners to get approval from the city manager for these increases rather than going to the council.

“It doesn’t make sense to have to go to the City Council every time you want to add three more tables,” Russ said.