Gardena Joins Battle to Keep Asian Betting Games in Casinos

In a spreading dispute about the legality of three Asian betting games, officials from Gardena, who say they stand to lose $1.5 million in city revenues, are joining forces with other casino cities to ensure that the games will not be banned.

Angered by casino raids by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department last month, top officials in Gardena, Bell, Bell Gardens, Huntington Park and Commerce have formed a city managers’ committee, which began meeting last week, to lobby for changes in the state’s 97-year-old gambling law.

County officials contend that the casinos are violating the state law that prohibits games in which gamblers play against a “bank,” usually the casino, rather than against each other. Card club operators, however, contend their games-- pai gow , Asian poker (also called pai-gow poker) and Super Pan 9--are legal.

A spokesman for the Normandie Casino, the largest of Gardena’s three card clubs and employer of 600, hailed the municipalities’ move to get the state law amended.

“We are pleased,” said Blaine Nicholson. “If the games go out, a good part of the work force will have to be let go.”

Case Set for Feb. 9

On the legal front, Commerce and Bell Gardens have joined in a lawsuit with casino operators to keep the games, which were started four years ago. Superior Court Judge Kurt J. Lewin is to consider the case on Feb. 9.

The imbroglio has affected usually smooth relations between some of the cities and the Sheriff’s Department, which provides police services to municipalities on contract. In Commerce, the mood is so sour that irate council members, who say investigators kept them in the dark about the raids, are considering canceling the city’s law enforcement contract with the Sheriff’s Department.

In Gardena, which has its own police force, City Manager Ken Landau said he also is upset about not learning in advance of the raids in his city by sheriff’s deputies.

“We need to get this settled once and for all,” said Bell Gardens City Manager Claude Booker, who is leading the joint effort. “We want to get the cloud out from under the games.”

Municipal officials complain that if the Asian games are held to violate state law, the cities--which collect 7% to 13.5% of casino profits--could lose millions of dollars.

In Gardena, Landau estimated that the city would lose about $1.5 million--about half of what the card clubs now provide--if the Asian games are shut out of the city’s three casinos. The cut would amount to about 5% of the city’s general fund of about $30 million.

“That’s the worst-case scenario,” Landau said, “but it’s a real fear. Some members of the Asian community are already scared away.”

Booker estimated that Bell Gardens would lose up to $6 million a year, about 60% of what it now receives from the Bicycle Club. “It would be devastating,” he said.

Casino owners fear that they would lose about 50% of their yearly profits if the games are declared illegal by Lewin.

Nicholson said layoffs would hit hard at the casino work force, which he estimated in Gardena at between 1,000 and 2,000.

At issue is a complex interpretation of the state gambling law, which was last updated in 1891, long before the Asian games became generally popular in California in the early 1980s.

Discrimination Claimed

Casino operators contend that the move against the Asian games amounts to discrimination.

“The court action discriminates against American-Asians who play pai - gow , Super Pan 9 and Asian poker. They have as much right to play their traditional games as others in this country that play their own traditional poker games,” said Nicholson.

The 1891 law states: “Every person who deals, plays or carries on . . . any banking or percentage game . . . is guilty of a misdemeanor.” In percentage games, the house, or casino, collects a percentage of winnings.

City officials, complaining that the state law is too vague, will press for an amendment in the state gambling law that would ensure the legality of Asian games and define precisely the terms “banking” and “percentage,” Booker said.

No decision, however, has been made on what strategy the group of city officials would take or which lawmaker would sponsor the cities’ effort to revamp the gambling law, Booker said.

‘Revolving Bank’

The Asian games have been targeted by law enforcement officials because they use a “revolving bank,” in which players take turns operating as the bank, officials said.

Players take turns being the dealer, who is pitted against the rest of the table. That player also becomes “the bank,” paying winners and collecting from losers. That contrasts with other games, such as draw poker, in which all gamblers play against one another for a common pot.

Lawyer David Chodos, who represents the Bicycle Club, said the state prohibition of “banking” games was intended to prevent a casino from holding an unfair advantage over players. But that cannot happen when players take turns operating as the bank, he added.

Played almost exclusively by Asians, pai-gow, Asian poker and Super Pan 9 have become a major source of revenue for the handful of card clubs because they are played at a faster rate than other poker games allowed at the card clubs, casino operators say. Casinos once collected a percentage of each bet, but now charge a flat, per-hand fee from every player under a recent court order.

Arrests in Club Raids

On Dec. 29, deputies raided three poker clubs in Gardena--the Normandie, the El Dorado and the Horseshoe, as well as the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens, the Commerce Club, the Huntington Park Casino and the California Bell Club in Bell.

Deputies arrested six employees at three of the clubs for allegedly violating a section of state law that prohibits “banking” games, said Cmdr. Raymond Morris. And several days later, deputies closed 70 tables at six of the clubs for the same reason. The Horseshoe had no Asian games running at the time of the raids, officials said.

Casino owners contend that they are not breaking the law because individual players take turns holding the bank, and the casino itself has no direct interest in who wins the hand.

Morris said that when the six arrests were made--two each at the Bicycle, Huntington Park and Normandie clubs--off-duty employees were allegedly operating as the bank. Two of the six card club employees are scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 14, officials said. Four others await arraignment on March 14. Card club officials told authorities that the three off-duty employees were playing on their own, and were taking their turns at holding the bank at their tables, Morris said.

Following the raids, the Bicycle and Commerce casinos and Bell Gardens filed a lawsuit to block the Sheriff’s Department from closing down the Oriental games. The Commerce City Council met in emergency session Jan. 5 and decided to join the suit.

Games Resumed

On that day, Sheriff Block agreed to allow the games to resume until Judge Lewin makes a decision on the legality of the games.

Previously, the Huntington Park Casino had filed a lawsuit against the county in 1984 after sheriff’s deputies moved to shut down pai-gow games because of the way casinos were collecting their fees from players. The casinos collected a percentage of the amount bet in Asian games, rather than a per-hand or table rental fee.

A trial court judge ruled that state law prohibiting percentage games was unconstitutionally vague.

But last November that decision was overturned by a three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, which found that state law prohibiting percentage games is clear and constitutional. The clubs now charge the per-hand fee in compliance with the appellate court ruling, casino spokesmen said.

The appellate court decision also discusses banking in relation to the Asian games, but the court did not clearly decide the issue of a rotating bank, county officials contend.

Definition of Game

Previous court decisions have defined a banking game as one in which the house or bank participates in the game and pays winners and collects from losers.

The Sheriff’s Department awaited the appellate court decision, Morris said. And when the court did not rule definitively on the banking issue, the department decided to move against the clubs, he said.

The appellate court decision does not clearly state whether the Oriental games as played in the casinos constitute illegal banking games.

Although the decision states: “It is clear that under the present facts Pai Gow is not a banking game,” a footnote reads: “Under the unique facts of this case no issue has been raised as to whether a ‘banking game’ would result if a person other than the ‘house’ were to maintain and operate the ‘bank.’ We do not reach and do not decide that question.”

George Hardie, owner of the Bicycle Club, said that because the players take turns holding the “revolving bank,” the Asian games are apparently legal.

“It’s not a banking game,” Hardie said. “The appeal court said it was legal.”

Deputy County Counsel Kevin Brazile, who is representing the county in the case, disputes that view.

“When you have a player who’s doing the same thing that the house would do (in Las Vegas), our position is it’s a banking game,” Brazile said.

In addition to Gardena and Bell Gardens, other cities are faced with large financial losses if Lewin rules that the games are illegal.

Commerce expects to receive $5.3 million from the Commerce Club, or 23.1% of what the city plans to spend this fiscal year on general services, including police and fire protection, said John Mitsuuchi, director of finance.

The city has a $5.9-million reserve, but the loss of income from the card club could force the council to make some budget cuts, Shepard said.

In Huntington Park, the City Council has directed its attorney to file a friend-of-the-court brief in support of the card clubs to protect its financial interests, City Administrator Donald L. Jeffers said.

The city expects to receive about $400,000 in revenue from the Huntington Park Casino this fiscal year. Unlike Commerce, Huntington Park does not have a comfortable reserve and it is counting on the card club revenue to keep its $9.9 million general fund in balance, Jeffers said.

Huntington Park Mayor Jack Parks also lashed out against the county.

“I think the sheriff is (unjustifiably) challenging the law,” Parks said. “We get a fair revenue out of those games. We want to follow the law. We’re not doing anything against the law.”

But county officials said they cannot be concerned with the effect their actions may have on city coffers.

“We’re not trying to stop them from making money,” attorney Brazile said. “It’s real simple. We’re trying to enforce the law.”

In addition to the potential financial losses, Gardena and Commerce officials were angered because they say they were not informed of the raids beforehand.

Gardena’s Landau complained that the Sheriff’s Department did not inform him or officials of the Gardena Police Department that they were planning to raid the three clubs. It was the first time that the Sheriff’s Department failed to tell city officials of its intention to conduct a law enforcement activity in the city.

“It was extremely unusual,” Landau said.

In Commerce, the council has voted to investigate whether the city should fire the Sheriff’s Department as its law enforcement agency in favor of starting its own police department or contracting with a nearby city. The city contracts with the Sheriff’s Department to provide all of its law enforcement services.

Staff writer George Stein also contributed to this story.