BELL GARDENS : Workers Lose Bid to Buy Casino Share

A bid by employees of the Bicycle Club casino to purchase the federal government’s share of the card club has failed, clearing the way for a Santa Monica investment group to assume controlling interest in the casino and leaving uncertain the future of 2,000 workers.

Bicycle Club chief of security Doug Sparks, who led employees’ efforts to buy the controlling interest, said the bid was about $2 million shy of the nearly $38 million required by the federal government. Sparks said the employees managed to raise $36 million by entering into combined financing with other institutions, in an effort to provide all employees with a comprehensive pension plan.

“Of course this is a letdown,” said Sparks. “But we just didn’t come up with enough money. It’s too bad because this would have set a precedent within the entire California gaming industry.”

A successful bid would have created an Employee Stock Option Plan, which would have provided for pensions for all employees. The card club already provides workers with a comprehensive health plan.

The federal government entered into an agreement Sept. 1 to sell its 36.15% controlling interest in the Bicycle Club for just under $38 million to the newly formed investment group Club Acquisition Partners.

Sparks said that employees of the casino are now waiting to see if Club Acquisition Partners’ bid is approved. The bid must also be accepted by the two existing partnerships--comprised of the government’s interest as well as private investors--that also control the casino and approved by a federal judge before the Santa Monica-based investors can apply for a license from city and state authorities.

“There are a lot of rumors circulating about the future of the club,” said Robert Turner, the Bicycle Club’s house pro, who teaches novices the basics of card games. “It’s like a takeover in any other industry--people are curious to see who their new bosses will be.”

Turner said last week the identities of those who formed Club Acquisition Partners were still not known to any of the club’s 2,000 employees.

“We’re basically waiting to see what happens,” Turner said. “The whole approval process for this deal should take about nine months.”

Both Richard Schneider, a Santa Monica attorney representing Club Acquisition Partners, and Tim Miller, the U.S. marshal overseeing the sale of the government’s interest in the club, declined to identify the individual investors in the limited partnership. Miller said last week that he signed a confidentiality agreement with Club Acquisition Partners preventing him from revealing their identities.

The government seized the Bicycle Club, the state’s second-largest casino, in April, 1990, after federal prosecutors proved the construction of the casino was financed in part with laundered drug money from Florida. At the time, the Bicycle Club was the largest asset ever forfeited to the federal government under racketeering laws.