Big Brothers Proposes Card Club in Oxnard

To boost its funding, Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Ventura County is seeking a license from Oxnard to open a poker club and restaurant at Channel Islands Harbor.

If the City Council approves the license, Big Brothers officials said the card club could generate $350,000 a year for the organization from games, including draw poker, Texas hold ‘em, Omaha, pan and some forms of Asian poker.

Under the charitable organization’s plan, another $150,000 a year in expected profits would go to 13 Oxnard schools.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters is advancing the fund-raising proposal because it expects a major drop in funding next year from United Way, its chief benefactor, officials said. Dwindling funds forced Big Brothers to close its Oxnard office in 1988.

“When it comes right down to it, a lack of funds means a lack of services for our young people,” Lynne West, executive director of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, said in a statement. “And vice versa, added funds mean we will be better equipped to fill increasing needs.”

The organization matches children from single-parent families with adults who serve as role models. There are 126 matches in the county, but 80 children are waiting to be matched.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters is expected to make a formal announcement today of its plan to apply for a game room license within 30 days.

Its plans call for the club to operate out of a two-story harbor-front building at 2701 Peninsula Road, which was the location of three restaurants that have closed.

A New York deli-style restaurant is proposed for the ground floor. Upstairs, 35 tables would be open to the public, once they pay $25 to join the organization’s auxiliary. The club would be open from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. seven days a week.

“This is going to be a first-class operation,” said Michael Wooten, a Big Brothers board member and key player in the proposal. “This is not something people have to be concerned about.”

Wooten said the club would try to cater mainly to a crowd 30 years of age and older, with 40% of the patrons women.

Big Brothers would not operate the club, Wooten said. Instead, he said operation would be turned over to a management group that includes Wooten and Frank Marasco, who are both with Darrik Marten Co., a Ventura property development company, and Orville Hernvall, owner of Hernvall & Associates, a Ventura-based real estate and property management company.

Under California gaming laws, the house would not participate in the actual card games. A non-playing house dealer would deal all hands. And revenue to Big Brothers would come from players’ fees, based on table time.

If the City Council approves the license soon after it’s submitted, Big Brothers officials said the club and restaurant could open by the end of the year.

Oxnard Police Chief Robert Owens expressed little concern about the proposed club. He said such clubs present “a low level of hazard” if managed properly.

Wooten said there are more than 300 licensed card clubs in the state, and most seem to be doing well financially. One club in Bell Gardens grossed more than $80 million last year.

Oxnard allows nonprofit organizations to hold a card club license for their benefit. The Elks Lodge, Colonia Club Caballeros and the Oxnard Eagles all hold licenses for such clubs.

There are also at least two public card-playing rooms in the county: Pinky Donohoo’s Player’s Poker Club in Ventura and the Pan Pad Card Room in Fillmore.