SOUTH GATE : Gaming Commission on Council Agenda

The City Council will vote Tuesday on establishing a Gaming Commission that would cost the city $18,000 a year and be composed of the five members of the council.

The ordinance was placed on the council agenda as an urgency item, which allows the council to skip an introduction of the ordinance to the public and take an immediate vote. Usually, residents have a chance to review an item twice before the council votes on it.

The Gaming Commission would oversee future high-stakes bingo games. The city has been negotiating to open a bingo parlor with the Southern California Regional Resource Foundation and the Old Timers Foundation, two nonprofit fund-raising organizations. Officials estimate games will generate gross revenues of $30 million to $40 million a year. Roughly half of the net revenues would go to the city.

“The urgency is that this has been dragging on for a year now, and the council is moving ahead with the matter,” said Mayor Albert Robles. “The commission will technically be a ‘Bingo Commission’ to regulate bingo playing in the city.”

The commission would begin to function immediately upon its approval. The city expects to close an agreement within the next few weeks with the hopes to open the gaming facility by the end of the year, he said.

If the ordinance passes, each council member will be paid $300 a month, $150 for each meeting, similar to arrangements the council members have for other city commissions, The annual cost to the city will be $18,000, according to the city’s Community Development staff report. In the beginning, the funds would come from the Redevelopment Agency or the city’s general fund, then be paid back as bingo revenues come in.