Long Odds for Casino Measure : West Hollywood: Groups that usually fight each other have allied to oppose an initiative for a card club.

Its proponents are literally promising West Hollywood residents a jackpot.

Pass the local initiative on November’s ballot allowing a legal card casino to open, they are telling voters, and city coffers will be enriched to the tune of $10 million a year.

But as the campaign surrounding the controversial measure prepares to heat up, the odds seem heavily against it.

An unprecedented alliance has formed to defeat the measure, known as Proposition AA. Operating under an umbrella organization known as Residents Against the West Hollywood Poker Casino, the foes include groups that have been bitter rivals in the city’s often fractious six-year history.

For instance, the Coalition for Economic Survival, architect of the city’s rent-control ordinance, has joined forces to defeat the gambling initiative with West Hollywood Concerned Citizens, the city’s major landlord group. All five City Council members oppose the measure. The Chamber of Commerce has come out against it, along with other business and neighborhood groups.

Additionally, the opposition includes community leaders from the city’s two main voting blocs--the elderly and the gay and lesbian community.

“We are getting a lot of support,” said Park Skelton, who is helping to manage the anti-Proposition AA campaign. “This is the first time Concerned Citizens and (the Coalition for Economic Survival) have been on the same side of an issue.”

Added Mayor John Heilman: “People have been willing to put aside their differences and unite” in opposition to the card club.

Proponents of the measure acknowledge they face an uphill struggle to persuade voters to approve the measure.

The main argument being used against the initiative is that a card club will attract organized crime, breed prostitution and become a “magnet for street thugs looking for easy prey.” Though the measure’s advocates reject that contention, they concede that it carries an emotional force that will be hard to overcome.

The initiative’s foes also contend that the casino will significantly increase traffic--another potent argument in a city already plagued by clogged streets.

Another major obstacle is a ruling by the West Hollywood city attorney on the initiative’s requirement that the card club set aside 10% of its earnings for the city. The city attorney declared that to be a tax-increase proposal, meaning that the initiative requires a two-thirds vote for approval.

The measure’s proponents threaten to file a lawsuit against the city if it seeks to enforce the two-thirds rule.

Under Proposition AA, the owners of the Cavendish West Hollywood--a small, private bridge-and-rummy club--would be turned into the Westside’s first legal gambling club, modeled after the large card clubs in Commerce and Bell Gardens.

The amount of money a Westside club would take in annually could reach $100 million, backers claim. Thus, the city’s share would be $10 million.

The measure specifies that three-fourths of the city’s share go to law enforcement, AIDS-related programs and services for the elderly and the gay and lesbian communities. Some of these funds also would be set aside for revitalization of the city’s run-down east end, where the club would be located.

The pro-Proposition AA group has spent nearly $100,000 on citywide mailings and other campaign efforts that focus on the help the measure can provide the financially strapped city.

The initiative’s sponsors also promise to build a first-class casino. “It’s going to be an upscale facility, given that most of our clientele will be coming from the Westside and the San Fernando Valley and will be seeking an upscale environment in which to relax and play cards,” said Bruce Decker, a spokesman for the “Yes on Prop. AA” campaign.

The proponents plan to up the ante of their spending in the campaign’s last few weeks.

While most major community groups have voiced opposition to the measure, some leading residents have decided to support it because of its potential to increase city revenues.

“I think it will generate a lot of money, and for that reason I think it will get a fair number of votes from the gay community,” said Christopher Fairchild, a former member of the city’s Public Safety Commission.

City officials acknowledge that West Hollywood faces a $1.5-million shortfall in the 1991-92 fiscal year. But they argue that the deficit will not force the city to undergo massive cuts, only reductions in future capital expenses, such as plans to build a new City Hall. And the officials are discussing ways to cover the loss through business license taxes and other special fees.

Mayor Heilman questions whether the net result of a card club would be increased city revenues. Problems caused by the club could create costs that offset the money it generates, he said.

“The question is: Do we need the crime, do we need the traffic, the congestion and the corrupting influences of this kind of establishment in West Hollywood? The answer I am hearing is: ‘No, we do not,’ ” Heilman said.

The Cavendish club, which has operated in West Hollywood for 29 years, is on the mezzanine level of a Sunset Boulevard office building. It provides 45 bridge, rummy and backgammon tables for its members.

If the new measure is approved, the owners plan to move to a new location on the city’s east end and expand to include up to 200 tables of legalized card gambling games, such as poker, 20 hours a day.

Philip Marks, the general partner for the Cavendish club and one of the principal backers of the initiative, said its foes have engaged in scare tactics by stressing crime and traffic issues. Marks, a New York City resident, operates legal gaming aboard two cruise ships and is chairman of the board of Kettering Industries Inc., a New Jersey manufacturer of toys and promotional items.

“Traffic won’t be a problem because we plan to have plenty of off-street parking,” he said.

In rejecting the notion that the card club would be a magnet for criminal activity, Marks said it is in the club’s best interests to aid law enforcement. “You never want to put the customers in any jeopardy,” he said, “so you have very good security. We plan to have the best.”

But even with good security, periodic arrests have been made for prostitution, bookmaking, extortion, loan sharking and other illicit activities at the county’s six legal card clubs, Sheriff’s Lt. David Kading told members of the Public Safety Commission recently.

Many West Hollywood residents have voiced concern that the city’s image will suffer if the initiative is approved. The city’s marketing corporation has spent $700,000 over the years trying to cultivate an image of West Hollywood as a creative city, a center for design, the recording industry and movie studios.

“The city has spent a fortune trying to improve its image,” said Jeanne Dobrin, a community activist. “I don’t want it to be known as West Gardena.”

BACKGROUND Under state law, gambling card clubs such as the one West Hollywood voters are being asked to approve are legal as long as certain guidelines are followed. Patrons may play for money against each other in a variety of games, including poker, rummy and pan. But, unlike the case at casinos in Las Vegas, bettors cannot gamble against the house at the card clubs. The clubs act only as a host, providing the tables and a dealer. They make their money by renting seats to players. The bigger the table stakes, the higher the rent for a seat. State law does not allow such popular forms of gambling as roulette, slot machines, craps and blackjack.