After passing a proposal for a blackjack game, the city council
may have to call it back and fold.
After passing a proposal for a blackjack game, the city council may have to call it back and fold.
On Monday, the council approved 6-0 a resolution, which the city clerk said the city attorney reviewed, allowing Garlic City Casino at the corner of Seventh and Monterey streets to host No Bust 21st Century Blackjack. Mayor Al Pinherio recused himself because he insures the building.
In doing so, the council may have violated a 15-year-old city ordinance prohibiting so-called “banking games” and introduced into the community what opponents call an “unbeatable,” community-ruining game. Councilman Dion Bracco realized the possible error and wants to bring the matter back before the council.
Unlike the seven, mostly poker-based games already allowed at Gilroy’s only card room by the state Bureau of Gambling Control, No Bust Blackjack requires players to act as the game’s bank on a rotating basis. Before every hand, a player must put down an amount of money that will cover that round’s action and then play through the dealer’s hand. By contrast, in poker-type games, players hold their own hands and bet against each other and not the house or a bank.
“I’ve called (City Administrator Tom Haglund) to bring this back because I don’t think we understood it, and I don’t think (police) understood it either,” Councilman Dion Bracco said.
Herman Garcia, a former card shark and owner of now-closed Garcia’s Club and Restaurant, called Bracco’s attention to the fact that the city banned that type of game in 1995. Bracco said Thursday he wants the council to reconsider the matter in light of the apparent oversight by the police department, which reviews alcohol and gambling permits in light of city code and state laws before giving a recommendation to the council.
Sgt. Kurt Ashley, who reviewed Garlic City Casino owner Ky Phuon’s application, was out of the office Thursday, but Police Chief Denise Turner said the department was still waiting to hear back from state authorities regarding No Bust Blackjack’s legality. The state specifically outlaws the standard blackjack played in Las Vegas.
State officials did not return multiple messages Thursday, but in an April 2009 letter, state Department of Justice Administrator Mysty Trejo told Phuon that California was fine with No Bust Blackjack – he just had to get permission from the council, Garcia said.
Phuon and former California Department of Justice Special Agent Elijah Zuniga – who now runs his own consulting business helping folks like Phuon acquire licenses – both met with Ashley earlier this year. State law allows games with player-dealer banking and more than 80 card rooms stretching from southern to northern California host them, but Gilroy’s ordinance does not. That never came up in conversations with police, Zuniga said.
“Most of the card rooms in California offer some kind of game like this, but I wasn’t familiar with any city ordinance,” Zuniga said. “If that’s the case, then obviously they’re not going to be able to play.”
That upset Garlic City patrons like Lynda Gomes, a 16-year Gilroyan who visits Phuon’s quiet club every day. She and another customer played Texas Hold ‘Em Thursday afternoon as the dealer casually tossed cards. A television sounded in the background and a still shrink-wrapped No Bust table sat on the back corner.
“I’m looking forward to playing No Bust (Blackjack). I actually prefer blackjack, but I don’t like driving up to San Jose,” where local law allows No Bust Blackjack with four-figure wagers versus Gilroy’s $200 bet cap. “This is a quiet place. There’s never any trouble here. It’s real nice, and the food’s great, too.”
Phuon also described his business as a “fun place for people to enjoy the evening” and said he would never introduce a card game that would present a problem to the community.
“Business is not that great because I don’t have anything to offer customers, so people go to San Jose to play blackjack and others games,” said Phuon, who grew up in San Ramon and has owned a doughnut shop there for the past 20 years. He bought Garlic City Casino 2.5 years ago. Without No Bust Blackjack, Phuon and others said he may have trouble staying in business. In 1980, 562 small card rooms operated throughout the state. Now, only 82 remain, according to Rick Baldaramos, president of Sacramento-based California Gaming Consultants.
“If (Phuon) didn’t buy this club, it would’ve been one of the others that went out of business because he doesn’t make any money as it is,” Baldaramos said. “(No Bust Blackjack) is just an opportunity for him to stay in business.”
Or reap huge profits, Garcia said. The former club owner said he petitioned city officials to ban banking games after a crime family offered him kickbacks if he would host blackjack in his club.
“When I ran my card room, we made a living, but we didn’t want to get rich or destroy people’s lives, so I resisted temptation from crime families and other big casino operations that were offering me big money to front for them in this city to open up a big casino operation with banking games,” Garcia said. “These games are unbeatable, and they ruin communities.”
Gambling in Gilroy
The city council will reconsider a resolution it passed allowing a form of blackjack after council members realized they may have violated an older gambling ordinance preventing games with “banks” as opposed to poker-type bets where players compete against each other and not a designated banker.
WHAT’S ALLOWED?
-Poker-type games that only involve casino fees for bets made before the deal
-$200 maximum for individual bet, up to $1,501 table maximum for No Bust 21st Century Blackjack
-Games the city council and police chief expressly allow, which include: Low Ball, Stud High, High Draw Poker, Hold ’em Poker, Pan, Razz, Draw Poker and No Bust 21 (under review).
WHAT’S NOT ALLOWED?
-Straight blackjack and other games outlawed by the state
-Casinos that charge fees after initial, pre-deal bets
-“Banking games” where the pot is controlled by the house or individual player against which players bet and from which players collect and where the house or player – known as “the banker” – takes all the losses.
-Money lending
