Mirage Casino Reportedly Interested in Cypress Club : Gambling: Backer of facility at Los Alamitos Race Course tells of call. Issue faces voters June 8.

A promoter of a card club at the Los Alamitos Race Course said the Mirage Casino-Hotel in Las Vegas approached him about managing the 24-hour gambling house, if it is approved by voters June 8.

Edward Allred, one of three partners behind the $30-million Derby Club, said that Mirage officials contacted him in March but that the discussion was brief and did not lead to any formal negotiations. He also said the Derby Club has not discussed management of the club with any other group.

“It was one call from Jim Ritchie to me that lasted maybe five minutes,” Allred said. “We spoke in generalities. I told him I didn’t have a real interest in managing a card club. He may have said, ‘We’re experienced people, keep us in mind.’ That was it.”

Ritchie is executive vice president of corporate development for the Mirage, which is one of the largest hotel/casinos in Las Vegas.

In an interview Tuesday, Ritchie said the Mirage would welcome the chance to manage the Derby Club. The company, led by Steven Wynn, appears to be branching out beyond Las Vegas. According to hotel spokesman Alan Feldman, the Mirage has applied for a license to become partner in a riverboat gambling complex on the Fox River in Illinois.

“There could be interest on our part,” Ritchie said of the Cypress club. “That would be a great marketing tool for our operation. It’s a great location.”

The prospect of a Las Vegas casino having a hand in the Derby Club disturbed some people in this small community.

“I can see Cypress becoming a gambling mecca with bars, nightclubs, nude clubs,” said attorney Darlene Allen, who is representing Cypress Citizens Against Card Clubs, the grass-roots group formed to fight Measure A. “I can just see the lights all up and down Katella. I’m not saying it’s going to happen soon, but maybe in the next 20 years.”

Who will own and operate the club is a critical point in the debate over the club. In fact, the City Council on Monday night spent more than three hours refining an ordinance that would give the city veto power over future partners or shareholders in the Derby Club.

At public meetings and in literature sent to residents, race course owner Lloyd Arnold has assured voters that he and his partners, Allred and Chris Bardis, will maintain control.

“Lloyd Arnold and his partners, who own and operate the Los Alamitos Race Track, will be the principal owners and operators of the Derby Club,” states a flyer sent to all Cypress residents.

Arnold said he has never spoken to the Mirage about the Derby Club.

“I don’t know Steve Wynn. I never talked to him or anyone else in Nevada about running the card club, buying or managing it,” Arnold said.

Bardis reiterated that there have been no serious discussions with the Mirage, but he suggested that the Derby Club might bring in a company like the Mirage to manage the establishment.

“I don’t know that it would not be in the best interest of the citizens of Cypress and us to have a first-class operation come in and work with us,” Bardis said. “I am not so sure that would be a bad idea, but we have had no discussions.”

The Mirage is a subsidiary of Mirage Resorts Inc., whose holdings also include the Golden Nugget, the Golden Nugget-Laughlin and the Mirage Golf Club. Wynn is chairman of Mirage Resorts.

In Cypress, the gambling house proposal has deeply divided the community of 45,000.

Supporters argue that the Derby Club will be the answer to the city’s financial woes, pumping up to $12 million into city coffers each year and providing thousands of jobs. Opponents contend that the club will cause an increase in crime and a decline in property values.

Voters in Stanton are engaged in a similar debate. Though there is no formal proposal for a club, the council placed a measure on the June ballot asking residents if they want card club gambling in their city.

Four years ago, Arnold played the role of peacemaker by buying the Los Alamitos Race Track. The city had been been deeply divided by a developer’s plan to build an industrial park on a golf course and other land surrounding the track.

Arnold won community support with his plan to maintain the course and build a smaller business park.

Councilwoman Joyce Nicholson, who supports the club, was surprised to learn of Allred’s contact with the Las Vegas casino.

“I thought they were going to be operating it themselves because that’s what they’ve been saying,” Nicholson said.

The councilwoman said she plans to call a meeting with the Derby Club partners to learn more about their plans for operating the club.