COMPTON : City Council OKs Deal for Hotel-Card Casino

Compton officials have approved a deal with two firms, including Hollywood Park, to create the county’s first hotel-card casino.

Under the agreement, which the City Council approved Tuesday by a 4-1 vote, Hollywood Park will lease the city’s 288-room Compton Ramada hotel for 50 years and buy the attached convention center, which would be converted to the card club. Only Councilwoman Yvonne Arceneaux dissented.

Hollywood Park would lease the convention center to Compton Entertainment Inc., which would set up the card club. Compton Entertainment, owned by rubbish company owner Rouben Kandillian, received the city’s blessing more than two years ago to build a card club, but the effort has been delayed by a lack of investors.

The city agreed to lease the empty hotel at an escalating rate, from $600,000 a year to $2.85 million, and sell the attached convention center for $2 million. The deal also calls for an annual minimum tax revenue of $2.5 million to be paid to the city.

To complete the deal, the city’s Gaming Commission, comprised of the five City Council members, must grant a new license incorporating Hollywood Park in the proposal. A vote is scheduled for later this month. The proposal must also meet state licensing requirements.