Opposition to Casino Proposal Grows in Churches : Gambling: A public hearing and City Council vote on the issue has been delayed. The mayor, in a letter to city ministers, calls the debate ‘spiritual warfare.’

For some Compton residents, the muted click-click of poker chips heard in card casinos throughout southeast Los Angeles County is the sound of cold, hard cash--big money moving directly from players’ pockets into city coffers.

For others, that click-click is the sound of a gun being cocked and aimed directly at the soul of the city.

The question is, which perception will prevail in Compton? A public hearing and City Council vote on the issue, scheduled for last week, was delayed until December due to changes in the development agreement between the city and Compton Entertainment Inc.

Thus far, three of five council members have voted to move forward with the proposal to erect a seven-acre, $9-million entertainment center, including the card casino, two restaurants, a bar and a nightclub.

But it is unclear whether that majority will hold up under increasing pressure from a large segment of the religious community, headed by Mayor and Congressman-elect Walter R. Tucker III, which argues that card parlors will bring increased immorality and crime into the city.

“As your mayor . . . I appeal to you to join me in prayer and fasting against the enemy that seeks to divide and destroy our community,” Tucker wrote in a letter to city ministers. “Because truly we are in a spiritual warfare.”

The proposal to open a casino angered some residents so much that they launched a recall against council members Omar Bradley, Bernice Woods and Jane D. Robbins, who support the proposal. Recall leaders say the three are conspiring to bring gambling into town.

Although other cities have asked their residents to vote on similar gambling issues, Compton’s council majority has opted to make the decision themselves--as the people elected them to do, Bradley and Woods say.

“I realize this issue could be the end of me, politically,” Bradley said. “But I have to think about what’s best for Compton.

“We can talk about the religious implications, or the supposed effects on crime, but nobody wants to talk about the one fact that matters, and that is: We’re broke. We need this revenue.”

The city budget increased by $12.5 million to almost $96.8 million for fiscal 1991-92, but the Police Department is understaffed by about 60 officers and the riots last spring caused a loss of about $500,000 in sales and other taxes, officials said.

Compton Entertainment Inc., the newly formed company proposing the entertainment center and card parlor, has promised the city $2 million--$500,000 in rent and $1.5 million as an advance on its licensing fee--within 90 days of the council’s agreement to the development, City Manager Howard Caldwell said.

In the beginning, developers believe the casino will generate $4 million annually in franchise and licensing fees and sales tax for the city. If successful, the casino would pump $10 million each year into city coffers and create 1,200 jobs, according to the proposal.

And Compton’s club will be successful, predicted Rouben Kandilian, sole owner of Compton Entertainment now that Mike Aloyan has withdrawn from the company. Aloyan, general manager of Murcole Industries, which holds a trash-collection contract with the city, withdrew from the project to avoid a possible conflict of interest.

“It’s the perfect location. And we’re going first class,” said Kandilian, 38, the owner of Zakaroff Services Inc. of Los Angeles, another rubbish and recycling business that he says is worth about $15 million.

The casino site, in the near-empty Compton auto plaza, is off the Artesia Freeway (91) between the Harbor and Long Beach freeways, offering easy access. The nearby Ramada Hotel would offer a haven to tired gamblers, while the card parlor would help bolster the hotel’s sagging room-occupancy rate, Kandilian said.

He points out that the Bicycle Club casino in Bell Gardens took in $84 million last year and contributed $11.4 million to city coffers. The Commerce Casino earned $75 million and gave $10.2 million to that city.

Some believe, however, that a Compton card club would not make that much money because of the growing number of casinos in the area. In addition to clubs in Bell Gardens and Commerce, there is one in Huntington Park, one in bankruptcy in Bell and ones proposed in Inglewood and Lynwood.

“The market is already saturated. If all the clubs come in, no one will make any money,” said George Hardie, managing partner of the Bicycle Club.

The question of market saturation is a lesser point of debate in Compton, however, where the discussion centers on morality. But when asked about the effect of the club on Compton residents, Kandilian looks perplexed.

“We don’t expect that people from Compton are going to be our customers, really,” Kandilian said. “The high rollers in other casinos are from out of town, mostly Asians who drive there.”

The casino will be decorated inside in Oriental motifs to attract the high rollers who are generally Asian, Kandilian said.

Lisa Chen, project manager for Asian-American Economic Development Enterprises in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the establishments are catering to an Asian passion for gambling.

In their crusade to persuade Compton residents that a card parlor would be financially advantageous--and not evil--Kandilian and Aloyan visited several neighborhood meetings to present their ideas.

Kandilian hopes this has created some grass-roots support for the casino, but like city officials, he knows there has been heavy lobbying against it from the city’s 121 churches.

“I was saddened to learn that even some members of the clergy are in support of this plan, suggesting that we are in such dire financial straits that we must open the door to graft and corruption to save our city,” Mayor Tucker wrote in his letter to fellow ministers. Tucker is an ordained Baptist minister.

This type of campaigning is all too effective in Compton, said Councilman Bradley, who plans to run for mayor in April.

To quell fears of corruption and graft coming into the city, Kandilian points to the investigations he and any investors will have to undergo.

If the city grants him a license, Kandilian will still have to undergo scrutiny from the state. And he is certain he will pass.

“I don’t have anything on my record,” said Kandilian, a native of Los Angeles.

Background checks required by state and local officials may be tough, but problems have cropped up at local casinos. The federal government seized part ownership in the Bicycle Club in April, 1990, after a jury found that more than half the money used for construction came from Florida drug smugglers.

The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control attempted to revoke the Huntington Park Casino’s liquor license earlier this year, saying the club was a nuisance and a law enforcement problem. The ABC lost the case, however, when police and city leaders testified in favor of the casino, which dumps tens of thousands of dollars into city coffers.

Times staff writer Rick Holguin contributed to this story.