Voters Dealing Mixed Results on Card Clubs in 7 Cities

Voters in seven cities were dealing card room promoters mixed results Tuesday as they decided whether to expand a fast-growing segment of California’s gambling industry.

Poker parlor authorization measures passed or were passing in Coachella, Palm Springs, Pomona and Suisun, but they were failing in Hesperia, Ontario and San Mateo.

San Francisco 49ers owner Edward DeBartolo Jr. and operators of Hollywood Park racetrack were partners in promoting a 30-table card room in Palm Springs and a 100-table parlor in Pomona.

In the San Mateo election, Bay Meadows racetrack was seeking voter approval to run a $10-million, 50-table card room at the north end of the grandstand. But with only absentee votes counted, that proposal was losing, 53% to 47%.

Elections also are scheduled in six other cities before the end of the year as promoters try to beat a three-year card room moratorium that takes effect Jan. 1.

Backers of the new card parlors faced long odds. Going into Tuesday’s elections, voters had rejected seven of California’s last eight card room proposals.

But the industry has been rapidly growing in the 145 communities where it is already authorized. Card clubs have added more than 500 tables since 1992 and earnings jumped 134% between 1992-93 and 1993-94.