City Explores Casino Plan to Raise Revenue : Gambling: A new company proposes a $35-million card palace just off the 605 Freeway at Beverly Boulevard. So far, it’s in the talking stage; a vote would come later.

Desperate for long-term solutions to their economic woes, officials in Pico Rivera have joined the ranks of other financially strapped Southeast cities who are thinking about taking a gamble on the unpredictable world of card casinos.

City officials have been meeting with MWB Development, which wants to build a $35-million casino on a vacant piece of land in the northeastern part of the city. Two City Council members were selected to hold a series of public meetings to examine the level of interest within the community.

The project, which eventually would have to be put to a vote of the people, drew mixed response from residents at meetings in December. Several more meetings are planned through the end of February, officials said.

“Some people think we should be trying to get industry in here to help with the budget, not this kind of element,” said Mayor John G. Chavez, who is on the two-man committee conducting the meetings. “What they don’t understand is that it is hard to attract (industry) these days.”

Pico Rivera’s financial dilemma is not uncommon among area cities that raised taxes, eliminated jobs and cut services last year to cope with severe budget shortages. With few other alternatives in sight, several cities are beginning to consider card clubs to help provide sorely needed revenue.

MWB has estimated that a new club could generate $5 million to $8 million a year for the city, and create 1,000 jobs. The city’s general budget is $14.9 million.

The MWB revenue estimates have stirred interest among city officials smarting from last year’s $1.8-million budget shortfall, which forced them to eliminate five full-time positions and impose a 5% utility users tax. “Our general fund was bleeding badly,” City Manager Dennis Courtemarche said. “We’ve been making cuts for five years, and the recession has only compounded the problems.”

Courtemarche said a successful casino “could allow us to do away with some of the taxes and let us put money into reserves and toward worthwhile programs.”

Three gambling clubs operate in the Southeast area. The Bicycle Club generated $10.8 million in fiscal 1991-92 for Bell Gardens; the Commerce Casino brought the City of Commerce $10.2 million, and the Huntington Park Casino generated $280,000 for that city.

Compton and Inglewood have agreed to allow casinos to be built in their cities. Voters in Lynwood and West Hollywood will probably decide the fate of similar proposals this spring. A measure that would have allowed gaming on the Queen Mary was narrowly defeated by Long Beach voters last November.

But card clubs are not a sure bet. Huntington Park’s casino revenues have been declining the last three years, city officials said. The Regency Club in Bell closed its doors last July, depriving that city of about $80,000 a month in revenue. The Regency Club is in bankruptcy, and its gaming license has expired. Another card club was built in Cudahy in 1989 but ran into financial difficulties and never opened. In Gardena, four card clubs have closed since 1982, leaving just two operating casinos in that city.

A state gaming official said, however, that she does not think that the area has reached the casino saturation point.

“The cities that are looking at these clubs have big dollar signs in their eyes,” said Debbie Wiley, who heads the state’s gaming registration division in Sacramento. “And there is a heck of a lot of money still to be had.”

She said she thinks that casinos will benefit from the influx of Asian immigrants who thrive on traditional betting games from their homelands. “There is a big draw (to Asian games),” she said. “One could probably guess that it would continue in the future.”

High-stakes Asian gaming rooms already provide a huge source of income for casinos, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Budds, who heads the department’s Asian crimes division. “Essentially, these are high-value games,” he said, adding that hundreds of thousands of dollars can sometimes ride on a single hand. “This is where real money is.”

The developers of the proposed Pico Rivera club would attempt to capitalize on the lure of Asian games, according to their proposal to the city.

The proposal described the casino’s proximity to the large Asian populations in Monterey Park and Hacienda Heights as “highly desirable, as (they) play in greater numbers than other ethnic groups.” Most of the estimated 150 tables would be devoted to the complex Asian games such as pai gow , which uses domino-like tiles instead of cards, and is generally played in Cantonese.

MWB Development was formed late last year by two former Bell Gardens city officials--City Manager Claude Booker and City Atty. Peter Wallin--and real estate developer Michael E. Macke, who in the early 1970s was a board member of the Southern California Rapid Transit District.

Booker was fired last March when four longtime foes were elected to the City Council after a bitter recall of four council members in December. Wallin resigned shortly after Booker departed.

The casino is MWB Development’s first project.

So far, no financing has been secured, Booker said. He said the group plans to approach a number of lenders, including banks and other private investors. Courtemarche said Pico Rivera will not provide any funding.

The preliminary proposal calls for a 100,000-square-foot, multistoried palace-like structure to be built on a vacant parcel adjacent to the San Gabriel River (605) Freeway at Beverly Boulevard. He estimated that it would cost $6 million to buy the site. The proposal also said a new freeway overpass might be required to relieve traffic congestion.

By comparison, the Bicycle Club casino is 80,000 square feet and has 140 tables. The club is expanding, and will add about 40 tables and 30,000 square feet.

Booker said he is not concerned about nearby competition, including the successful Commerce Casino and Bicycle Club, within 15 miles of the proposed Pico Rivera casino.

Bicycle Club General Manager George G. Hardie, however, is skeptical that many new card players exist and is worried that Booker’s club--along with the proposals for new casinos in Lynwood, Compton and Inglewood--will eventually deplete his pool of gamblers.

“There are not enough customers to go around,” he said. “Where will the players come from? People have this mistaken idea that you open a casino and instantly make money, but it’s not that easy.”

Chavez said he favors giving MWB a shot at building a “first-class club” in Pico Rivera. “The community can only benefit with something like this,” he said. “It can be a showcase for this entire city.”