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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 04152008 - C.19 TO: BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: Susan A. Bonilla, Supervisor, District IV s ' ' ,• Costa 7. DATE: April 15, 2008 .` County SUBJECT: CARDROOM ORDINANCE AMENDMENT) SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATION: ADOPT ordinance amending Chapter 52-3 of the County Ordinance Code, regulating cardrooms, to conform to state licensing requirements and to modify check processing timing. FISCAL IMPACT: No impact on the General Fund. BACKGROUND: Currently, by County ordinance, only "natural persons" may be issued cardroom license permits. California law permits licensing of business entities, in addition to individuals. The modifications to the cardroom ordinance will conform the County's ordinance to state law. Additionally, the proposed modifications will address the current requirements that a check for winnings be paid "promptly" to a player, which can pose problems for a 24-hour operation during times when no authorized check signer may be on site (e.g., at 3:00 a.m. on a Sunday). The proposed modifications would permit issuance of a check for winnings "no later than the next banking day." As required by Business and Professions Code section 19961.1, and as previously directed by this Board of Supervisors, County Counsel forwarded the proposed modifications to the Department of Justice, Bureau of Gambling Control for review. The Bureau of Gambling Control has reviewed and approved the proposed amendments. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: YES SIGNATURE: --------------------------------------------------- -----------------------=-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHER SIGNATURE(S): --------------------------------------- ---- --------- ------------- _----------- ACTION OF BOARD ON� -------APPROVE---------AS-----RECOMMEND--------------------ED--------------- �------------------- -OTHER----------------------- r�j�� VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN UNANIMOUS(ABSENT •4-\�►"-�� ) AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE AYES: NOES: SHOWN. ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ,ten ATTESTED Q n CONTACT: Lauren Hole(925)521-7100 JOHN CULLEN, LEFZWOF THE BOARD OF )BY V S AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR CC: County Administrator County Counsel Sheriff DEPUTY i ORDINANCE NO. 2008-14 CARDROOMS The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors ordains as follows (omitting the parenthetical footnotes from the official text of the enacted or amended provisions of the County Ordinance Code): SECTION I. SUMMARY. This ordinance amends Section 52-3.301 of the County Ordinance Code to conform to state licensing requirements (Business and Professions Code sections 19851 and 19852) and Section 52-3.505 to modify check processing timing. SECTION II. Section 52-3.301 of the County Ordinance Code is amended to read: Section 52-3.301 Cardroom Owners. (a) The owner of a cardroom shall apply for and obtain a cardroom license pursuant to this chapter. (b) If the cardroom owner is one or ni'ore natural persons, each person who is a cardroom owner must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license. (c) If the owner is a corporation, each of the following must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license: every officer, director, and shareholder, other than a holding or intermediary company, of the corporation who is required to apply for and obtain a state gaming license. (d) If the owner is a partnership, each of the following must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license: every general and limited partner of, and every trustee or person, other than a holding or intermediary company, having or acquiring a direct or beneficial interest in that partnership. (e) If the owner is a trust. each of the following must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license: the trustee and, in the discretion of the sheriff, any beneficiary and the trustor of the trust. (f) If the owner is a business organization other than a corporation, partnership, or trust, then all those persons as the sheriff may require, must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license. (g) .Each person who receives, or is to receive, any percentage share of the revenue earned by the owner from gambling activities must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license. (h) Every employee, agent, guardian,)personal representative, lender, or holder of indebtedness of the owner who, in the judgment of the sheriff, has the power to exercise a significant influence over the gambling operation must individually apply for and obtain a cardroom license. I ORDINANCE NO. 2008-14 1 � 3 (i) A cardroom will not be permitted to operate if any individual who is required to obtain a cardroom license pursuant to this chapter has not obtained one. (Ords. 2008-14, § 2; 82-44.) SECTION III. Section 52-3.505 of the County Ordinance Code is amended to read: Section 52-3.505 Operations. (a) Deposit Winnings. The licensee sliall have a check issued to any player so requesting in exchange for his winnings no later than the next banking day, but the player may instead in writing require the licensee to keep th.i player's winnings for him or her for an agreed reasonable time. (c) lours of Operation; Alcoholic Beverages Restrictions. Cardrooms may be open twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week. No alcoholic beverages may be served or consumed at a cardroom between two a.m. and six a.m. The licensee shall conspicuously display signs in the cardroom stating these matters. (d) Wagering Limits. No more than "table stakes" shall be allowed in any game at any cardroom. "Table stakes" means that no wager in any hand shall exceed the amount that lthe player has in front of him or her at the start of the hand. The licensee shall conspicuously display signs in the cardroom stating that no more than table stakes shall be allowed in any game. If further limits on wagering apply to any table, the licensee shall conspicuously display a sign at or next to the table stating the further wagering limits. (e) Licensee Responsible. The licensee is responsible that the operation and playing are strictly in accordance with state law and this chapter. (f)Name Badges. Every person who has or should have a work permit or a cardroom license shall, while at the card tables, always wear at about chest height on the outermost garment an identification badge in a form approved by the sheriff, always plainly readable and in good condition. (g) Signs. The licensee shall post one or more signs, plainly visible throughout the cardroom, stating as many of the regulations of this chapter as the sheriff may require. (h) Every cardroom must be open to official inspection at all times for purposes enforcing this chapter. (i) Every cardroom licensee shall, within seventy-two hours of the effective date of the ordinance codified in this section, file with the sheriff a written list stating the name and cardroom work permit number of every cardroom employee employed at each licensed premises. During the .first week of February, June, and October of each year, the licensee shall notify the sheriff in writing of the name and cardroom work permit number of each cardroom employee employed or terminated at each licensed premises during any portion of the previous four months. (Ords. 2008-14, § 3; 98-28, 89-34, 82-44, 1506, 1548: § 52-2.416 in part: prior code § 5213). SECTION IV. EFFEC'T'IVE DATE. This ordinance shall be effective 30 days after passage, and within 15 days of passage shall be published once with the names of the supervisors voting for and against it in the Contra Costa Times, a newspaper published in this County. ORDINANCE NO. 2008-14 2 � 3 PASSED on r) � �, by the following vote: AYES: (�Olpt , �Ll�N�, :�•I�Ko , �pN �-(� � C�I.D�E�_ NOES: ABSENT: r ABSTAIN: ATTEST: JOHN CULLEN, Clerk of the Board ol'Supervisors B and Chair and County Administrator By: [SEAL] Dep ORDINANCE NO. 2008-14