If a card-room expansion bill making its way through the Legislature is successful, the owners of American Canyon’s Napa Valley Casino say they want to be dealt in.

Senate Bill 152, which cleared the Assembly this week and heads to the Senate for a final vote, would make it easier to add tables at small card rooms.

The proposed law would allow smaller businesses now limited to 12 tables by local ordinances to expand by 45 percent if the local government approves.

Brian Altizer, one of three owners of the Napa Valley Casino, said Friday they would seek an expansion from the current 12-table maximum to 17 tables if the bill passes.

Their plan also would call for the construction of an 8,000- to 10,000-square-foot addition to provide space for a restaurant, small bar and new employees. The current work force is 50 people.

The move would help the card room withstand the pressure from rapidly expanding Indian casinos like Cache Creek, Altizer said.

“It would allow us to not completely compete with them, but it would help keep the Indian casinos from just crushing the smaller card rooms,” Altizer said.

“We would request that the city look at it and see how it could help the business be more competitive, help the community and create more jobs in American Canyon.”

Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, said he introduced SB 152 to accommodate the growing popularity of Texas Hold’em poker.

The card game is featured on many televised poker tournaments and has motivated a growing number of gamblers to try their hand at local card rooms.

Anti-gambling groups have condemned the proposed law, saying more tables create a greater temptation for gambling addicts. Florez countered that the legislation is a reasonable way to provide room for larger poker crowds without creating a major expansion of gambling venues.

A 1995 state law prohibits new card rooms and limits expansion at existing ones. The moratorium has been extended several times and is now set to expire in 2015.

Smaller card room owners have chafed at the restriction, saying their costs keep spiraling upward but ways to create more revenue are limited.

Altizer and his partners Von Huang and Keith Miller bought the Napa Valley Casino in 2006.

Altizer said the popularity of Texas Hold’em and an extra five tables would enable the casino to host larger tournaments of 100 to 150 players at once.

“It becomes much more of an event,” Altizer said. “It helps not only bring people into the casino, it also gives us more legitimacy.”

American Canyon City Council members have differing views on the possibility of expanded gambling at Napa Valley Casino.

Although the casino moved to a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week operating schedule when the new owners took over, Councilwoman Cindy Coffey said the new management has been exemplary.

She noted that the business is well-lit, the customers are happy, many amenities are provided and there is always a security guard in the parking lot.

Coffey added that the Napa Valley Casino’s owners have been strongly “engaged with the community.” The business donates to all the youth sports activities in American Canyon and actively raises money for a number of worthy organizations and causes.

“There hasn’t been any crime associated with that place at all,” Coffey said. “They run a great business and I wouldn’t have a problem with bringing forward any kind of expansion opportunity.”

Councilman Don Callison said he’s not opposed to more tables, but would be against a physical expansion of the casino, which sits along bustling Broadway/Highway 29.

“I have no problem with card rooms, but as you try to build a commercial corridor, I’m not sure a card room is the best representation of the city to be right there on the highway,” Callison said. “If we could find them a better location, I would probably be more in favor of it.”

Councilman Ed West said he would have to study the legislation more closely before forming an opinion.

“My initial response is to be cautious on it,” West said. “I wouldn’t say no but would have to look at the surrounding area and decide if it is appropriate and can handle the additional traffic.

“So, it’s a definite maybe.”

Recovered from the Poker Players Alliance archive index. This is the archived item as preserved.