Free Chips Flowed at Blackjack Table

SANTA YNEZ, Calif. — Vincent Armenta kept a promise to take his son to the Chumash Casino on his 18th birthday.

A losing streak at a card table quickly emptied Armenta’s wallet. As his losses approached $2,000, Armenta resorted to a strategy not found in “Beat the Dealer” or other blackjack bibles.

“Let’s put some green ones out there,” he recalled telling the dealer.

The dealer placed free $25 chips in front of each player at the table. At Armenta’s urging, the dealer continued to give away chips, valued at $5 to $100 each, for more than an hour.

The game caught the attention of an undercover security officer, who asked a card room supervisor what was going on. The supervisor nodded toward Armenta.

“That’s the tribal chairman,” he said, according to a report filed by the officer.

As play continued that evening — Dec. 7, 2002 — a casino manager contacted the director of card room operations at home. The director was Anthony Armenta, the chairman’s brother, who said he ordered a halt to the game.

In a series of interviews, Vincent Armenta said he never intended to break any laws or pocket any winnings.

“I wasn’t there to win any money,” Armenta said. “I was trying to create excitement for people at the table.”

A welder by trade, Armenta, 41, was elected chairman of the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians in 1999. Under his leadership, a new casino resort has brought great wealth to his once-impoverished tribe.

At a special meeting on Dec. 19, 2002, tribal members were shown excerpts from nearly three hours of surveillance videotape of the incident.

Armenta described his actions as “a gross error in judgment” and apologized to the tribe, according to a transcript.

A casino compliance officer told the tribe that Armenta’s conduct probably would have violated state gambling laws in Nevada.

An incident report said Armenta committed 11 violations of tribal gaming policy. The loss to the casino was put at $1,400.

At the meeting, two of the tribe’s gaming commissioners — chairman Gilbert Cash and longtime member Rudolph Romero — called for Armenta’s resignation.

A former tribal chairman spoke out against Armenta’s removal, saying it would give the Chumash “another black eye,” the transcript shows. “California is in the process of trying to regulate these casinos and shut them down,” David Dominguez said. “After so many violations, they will do it.”

Armenta refused to step down.

The Chumash gaming commission, a panel of five tribal members responsible for regulating the casino, fined Armenta the maximum $500 per violation and ordered him to reimburse the casino for the lost revenue. The total: approximately $7,000.

The Chumash tribe passed a resolution prohibiting members of the business council and the gaming commission from betting at the casino.

“This incident, if anything, demonstrates that the gaming commission does in fact take its responsibilities seriously,” said Glenn Feldman, the Chumash gaming attorney.

A Jan. 3, 2003, letter signed by 14 Chumash Indians condemned members for telling outsiders about the case.

“We are all related here on the reservation,” the letter stated. “It does not give anyone the right to send such information that makes us all look bad. It is imperative we find a way to stop these members before they destroy us.”

In March 2003, Armenta was elected to a third two-year term as tribal chairman.