Card Clubs in Bay Area Urge Davis to Deny Casino Request

A group of Bay Area card clubs urged Gov. Gray Davis on Thursday to reject a California Indian tribe’s anticipated request to transform a competing card club into a casino.

The group’s plea to Davis came a day after President Clinton signed federal legislation advancing efforts by the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to turn a card club in the city of San Pablo into a Nevada-style gambling house.

The Lyttons hope to install as many as 2,000 slot machines at the Casino San Pablo card club, but must first obtain Davis’ agreement.

A group of Bay Area card clubs told the governor that would create unfair competition that would have a devastating effect on the clubs and their employees.

“We call on Gov. Davis to assert his leadership and deny a compact to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians and the out-of-state business interests that want to ‘Nevadacize’ the East Bay,” said a statement issued by four Bay Area clubs.

Michael Franchetti, a San Francisco attorney representing the Lucky Chances card club in Colma, said it is “very likely” that the clubs will go to court to challenge both the federal legislation signed Wednesday and Proposition 1A, the March ballot initiative that voters approved granting California tribes exclusive rights to offer Nevada-style slot machines and banked card games in the state.

That initiative ratified a landmark agreement that Davis made with the tribes a little more than a year ago.

But the governor also has said he does not want to see a major expansion of gambling in the state, particularly in urban areas.

A lawyer for the Lyttons said he is not concerned about the card clubs’ protests.

“We’re disappointed, but not surprised they would take that approach,” said Lytton attorney Tony Cohen. “I think they will be wasting the resources of the court if they attempt it and wasting their own money and the tribe’s money as well. . . . These legal issues are all very well settled by the courts.”