June Election Set on Cypress Card Parlor Plan : Gambling: Council defers to voters whether to allow county’s only such venue. The city is already divided.

Residents here will go to the polls in June to decide whether to allow Los Alamitos Race Course to operate Orange County’s only card parlor.

In a 4-1 decision, the City Council early Tuesday morning agreed to put the “Cypress Club” proposal before voters June 8, setting the stage for a long and potentially nasty fight over gambling in this bedroom community.

Councilwoman Cecilia L. Age, an outspoken opponent of the card club, voted no.

“If you think, as I do, that the card club has a 50-50 chance of winning, the City Council would be derelict in their duties not to write this,” said Councilman Walter K. Bowman, who made the motion to call the special election. “I think the card parlor people will put out a great campaign and I think they have a good chance of passing it.”

The decision allows the City Council, not the owners of the race course, to write the ballot initiative. If the council had refused to call the election, race course owner Lloyd Arnold could have forced it to a vote and authored the initiative by gathering about 3,500 signatures. Council members argued that Tuesday’s vote was a necessary safeguard for the community’s interests.

However, many residents accused the council of doing Arnold’s “dirty work” and backing the plan.

“To me, a vote to put this on the June ballot is a vote for it,” said resident Joseph Hourigan, one of several people who pleaded with the council not to call the election. “Gambling is wrong. I don’t want to drive by it. I don’t want to take my children by it.”

At issue is a proposal to open a 24-hour gambling house at the Los Alamitos Race Course. Modeled after large gambling halls in Los Angeles County such as the Commerce Club, the $30-million Cypress Club would also include a theater, restaurant and banquet facilities, Arnold said.

He has pitched the card club as a way to wipe out the city’s financial problems, promising to deposit up to $12 million in city coffers every year and generate an estimated 2,500 jobs. Actual blueprints for the card parlor have not been revealed.

Even before it hit the ballot, the card club has started to divide the community.

Two weeks ago hundreds of people jammed the City Council chambers to debate Arnold’s proposal. On one side, residents argue that it would bring crime, drugs, traffic and prostitution into their neighborhoods. Others say the money and jobs make it an offer too good to refuse.

“I see the card club as advantageous to us,” said resident Barbara Stubblefield. “Casino workers are good, God-fearing people. They aren’t going to go to hell because they work in the casino.”

At this week’s meeting, the crowd was not as large, but the majority was against gambling and putting it before the voters.

So far, the only people without an opinion seem to be council members, except for Age. However, several stated that the city, which is facing a potential $1-million shortfall in its $17-million budget, needs money.

“If people say they don’t want a card club, that is fine,” said Mayor Gail H. Kerry. “But they better come up with ideas to raise money.”

Even if the initiative passes, the council will be able to regulate operations at the club through city codes and regulations, officials said.

If approved by voters, the Cypress Club would be the only legalized card club in the county. A similar plan several years ago in Stanton failed to win support. However, officials in Garden Grove are now looking at a proposal to bring legalized gambling to their city.