California Acts of the 2000 Legislative Session
AB 1416, Chapter 1023
BILL NUMBER: AB 1416 CHAPTERED 09/30/00 CHAPTER 1023 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2000 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 31, 2000 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 30, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 5, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 16, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 3, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2000 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 23, 2000 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 3, 1999 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wesson (Principal coauthor: Senator Perata) FEBRUARY 26, 1999 An act to amend Sections 19805, 19851.5, and 19950.2 of, and to add Section 19950.3 to, and to add and repeal Section 19980 of the Business and Professions Code, and to add Section 330.11 to the Penal Code, relating to gambling establishments, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediatelyLEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1416, Wesson. Gambling establishments.
(1) Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, provides for the regulation, oversight, and licensure of gambling establishments, and the owners and employees thereof, by the California Gambling Control Commission and the Division of Gambling Control. Existing law prohibits a list of specified gambling games or any banking or percentage game played with cards, dice, or any device, for money, checks, credit, or any representative of value, and provides that any person who offers for play or participates in these games is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable as specified.
This bill would authorize gambling establishments to operate controlled games utilizing a player-dealer position, as defined, and to contract with a 3rd party for the provision of proposition player services subject to specified conditions and regulatory requirements.
(2) Existing law generally requires voter approval of an amendment to a local ordinance that would result in the expansion of gambling, as defined, but exempts licensed gambling establishments with 5 or fewer tables from this restriction. Existing law also provides that until January 1, 2001, no local jurisdiction that had not authorized legal gaming prior to January 1, 1996, shall do so, and that no gaming ordinance in effect on that date may be amended to expand gaming. Existing law extends this moratorium until January 1, 2003, with respect to the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Mateo, and Santa Clara.
This bill would provide that the above restriction shall apply in all counties until January 1, 2007, and would additionally provide that until January 1, 2007, neither the commission nor the division shall issue a license for a gambling establishment that was not licensed to operate on December 31, 1999, unless an application to operate that establishment was on file with the division prior to September 1, 2000.
(3) Existing law provides that every person who deals, plays, carries on, opens, or conducts, or who plays or bets at or against any banking game is guilty of a misdemeanor and is punishable as specified.
This bill would provide that "banking game" or "banked game," as used in the above prohibition and in the Gambling Control Act, does not include any game where the rules provide that the player-dealer position systematically and continuously rotates amongst the participants, the player-dealer is able to only win or lose a fixed and limited wager, and prohibits the house, another entity, a player or an observer from maintaining or operating as a bank during the play of the game. By changing the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(4) Existing law generally requires gambling establishments to be open to the public, but authorizes a private club to continue to operate, provided it meets specified criteria, until July 1, 2000, or until the ownership or operation of the club changes from that of January 1, 1998, whichever occurs first.
This bill would extend that date until November 30, 2003. This bill would also provide that prior to issuing a license to a private club, the division shall ensure that the ownership of the gambling establishment has not changed since January 1, 1998, and that the operation has not been leased to any third party.
(5) This bill would provide that if any of its provisions, or the application thereof, are held invalid, that these provisions are severable from the remainder of the provisions.
(6) This bill would make various technical changes to the act to implement these provisions, as well as technical, nonsubstantive changes, as specified. Because this bill would impose new regulatory requirements, violations of which would be punishable as misdemeanors, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(7) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
(a) In 1983 and 1984 California card clubs played games with cards involving a player-dealer position in which players were afforded the temporary opportunity to wager against multiple players at the table where the player-dealer position continuously and...
