MOORPARK : Council Will Vote on Card Club Plan

The Moorpark City Council appears poised to nix a proposal tonight by a Calabasas businessman to open a large card club in downtown Moorpark.

Council members will decide whether to send a letter to Everett Crawford, the retired real estate investor from Calabasas who made the proposal, rejecting his bid to build a card club in the city, Mayor Paul Lawrason said.

“I would guess that it won’t come out in (Crawford’s) favor,” said Lawrason. “I don’t know of anyone who has come forward in support of this, and a lot of people have said it is just not appropriate for our city.”

Crawford, who said the club could generate more than $2 million in revenue for city coffers, said he was not told that the item was on tonight’s agenda.

“I haven’t heard anything from the city--positive or negative,” he said. “I would hope though that they wouldn’t just reject it out of hand. It is incumbent on them to at least listen to the proposal. We’re not talking about nickels and dimes here.”

Several members of the council have already said they would vote against the proposal, stating that the club, which would be by far the largest card club in the county, would attract the “wrong element.”

Under Crawford’s proposal, the club would have about 30 tables, which he estimates could earn as much as $20 million a year from the fees charged for each hand played.

Patrons would gamble against each other and not the club. The club’s earning would be solely from those fees, and the city would take a cut from the proceeds.