Card Clubs Bet on Games That Lure Asian Players : Casinos: High-stakes gambling in pai gow, pan 9 appeals to Vietnamese, Chinese and Cambodians with visions of fast cash. But losses can be devastating.

Methodically rubbing his last four $5 chips, the man with the cashmere jacket and gold bracelet assessed his fortune at the Bicycle Club. He had lost $4,500 in 1 1/2 hours playing Asian poker, he said, unlike the evening before, when luck smiled and he won five grand in a mere 30 minutes.

Time to drive home to San Diego, where he works as a paralegal. But he’d be back today, he said. “Not Saturday,” said the man from Vietnam, who asked that his name not be used. “I have bad luck on Saturdays. I’ve lost on seven straight Saturday nights.”

On this Wednesday night, the Bell Gardens casino was packed with gamblers, especially the “Asian room,” where high-stake games such as pai gow, pan 9 and Asian stud are played. Most of the bettors are Asian, who converse in Vietnamese, Tagalog, Cambodian or Chinese.

“It’s like the United Nations,” said George Hardie, the Bicycle Club general manager.

Whatever their country of origin, they visit the casino with a common purpose of winning fast cash. But a common fate often awaits them.

“Of the 10 players,” said the man in the cashmere jacket, “nine would lose.”

Which is why many leaders in Orange County’s Asian-American community are apprehensive at the prospect of card clubs opening in Cypress and Stanton. Both cities have measures on the Tuesday ballot that would allow casinos like the Bicycle Club.

In addition to the more common concerns that casinos may draw organized crime, loan-sharking, money laundering and other crimes, Asian-Americans have some private worries. Because the high stakes in the Asian games are lucrative for casinos, Asian-Americans fear that club operators will target Asian gamblers.

The Bicycle Club, for example, often places advertising inserts in Vietnamese newspapers. Visitors to Little Saigon are greeted by a billboard on Bolsa Avenue about the club. Those who attend Vietnamese-American events will likely find the card club listed as a contributor.

Having a card club closer to Asian neighborhoods such as Little Saigon in Westminster and Koreatown in Garden Grove would encourage more gambling, community leaders said. Compulsive gambling leads to bankruptcies and ruins families, they said. Casino opponents often tell stories about people who lost everything because of gambling.

“It’s very dangerous,” said Tony Lam, the Vietnamese-American councilman from Westminster. “It’s making it convenient for people to try their luck. . . . The casinos are targeting the Asian community. They are exploiting the Asian community.”

Added Garden Grove Councilman Ho Chung, a Korean-American: “Once we have a card club near our home, then we are likely to be motivated to go there. That is our concern. We’d like to stay away from that, far, far away from that.”

But Stanton Mayor Pro Tem Joe V. Harris, a supporter of a casino in his city, sees nothing wrong in keeping the chips in Orange County. Currently two major players in Los Angeles County, the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens and the Commerce Casino in Commerce, compete for most of the Southland’s gambling dollar.

“It’s logical and common sense,” Harris said. “A lot of people from Little Saigon, who, I’m sure, if they build a quality club here, it will save them a trip to Commerce. . . . Why not drive just four miles, instead of going up the Santa Ana Freeway and deal with all the traffic?”

Asian gamblers are the golden goose of California card clubs. The casinos were struggling until the mid-’80s, when the Asian games were introduced. Almost overnight, the clubs filled up with Asian players, who barely blink at five-figure stakes.

While casino operators don’t admit to targeting Asian gamblers, it is no secret that they recognize that some Asians have a penchant for high-stake gambling.

Though Asians make up 30% to 35% of the Bicycle Club’s customers, they generated up to 60% of the club’s $84-million revenue last year, Hardie said. His biggest customers are Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai and Korean, he said.

As more Asians move to Orange County, card club operators too want to bring their operations closer to their customer base.

“I’m sure that if there is a card club establishment here, it will cater primarily to Asians,” said Stanton Councilman Harry Dotson, an opponent of card clubs. “Our biggest draw would be Garden Grove and Westminster. They would come here because it’s closer. They can go there and play 20 hours and go home and sleep four.”

Ard Keuilian, a developer who wants to build a casino at his Stanton swap meet, expects that his club, if approved by voters, would draw the same percentage of Asian gamblers.

While denying that he will target Asian gamblers, Keuilian acknowledges that “we do have an Asian community here. There’s nothing wrong with them coming here instead of going to Los Angeles. The money should stay here.”

The problem is that the money usually does not end up in the gambler’s pocket, Councilman Lam said. He told the story of a wealthy Vietnamese woman who lost a string of stores to gambling.

The man in the cashmere jacket also knows victims of gambling.

“I know an Iraqi,” he said. “He owned 10 liquor stores, had other businesses too. He lost $5 million in two years. He now plays $100 games. He borrowed a $100 from me the other day.”

There are winners as well.

One gambler said he once started with $150 and won more than $40,000 over four days.

“Gambling and Asians,” a Vietnamese gambler said. “It’s in their blood. They gamble on everything.”

Still, gambling is frowned upon by most in the Asian-American communities.

A Vietnamese radio talk show recently solicited listeners’ opinions on card clubs in Orange County. An overwhelming majority of those who called in opposed the idea.

“People who propose a casino should be whipped a few lashes so they drop that idea,” said one caller from Anaheim.

A caller from Santa Ana said: “I’ve driven wives to the Bicycle Club to find their husbands. They used to drive Mercedeses, now they are driving $800 cars.”