Part 1 — General Conditions

The people determine that the operation of game room facilities in other jurisdictions in the State of California when they strictly comply with those jurisdiction's gaming laws has been demonstrated to be a successful means of generating revenues for local governments. The people find that the public health, safety and welfare require the establishment of specific regulations and procedures for the operation of a gaming facility in the City of Albany. These regulations will also create a significant depend-able new source of revenues. It is also found, so long as the State Legislature does not intrude upon the province of local affairs of the City of Albany and does not in any manner attempt to prevent the City of Albany from creating and raising revenues, that conformity with the State Gaming Registration Act and any amendments thereto is desired. The City thus finds it necessary to regulate, among other things:

• a. The person(s) and applicant(s) who will own, operate, and be employed in game rooms;

• b. The number of game rooms in the City;

• c. The location and operation of game rooms in the City; and

• d. The issuance of licenses, including limitations on transfer and assignment, regarding game rooms; and

• e. The permissible games that may be played in the game rooms, hours of operation, and wagering limits.

The following definitions apply to this section.

APPLICANT — Shall mean every "person" as defined by this subsection, who requests a license.

CITY ADMINISTRATOR — Shall mean the person appointed by the City Council of Albany to the position known as City Administrator or that person's designee or equivalent.

COMMENCE — Shall mean and include commence, begin, initiate, start, open and establish.

EMPLOYEE — Shall mean person who acts as an agent or employee of the licensee, with or without compensation, in a game room, including one who participates as a dealer in a game or is in charge of the operation and is required to supervise game tables, or is a proposition player. Anyone who is required to routinely enter into a game playing area during the course of his or her duties is considered an employee. The term employee does not include a bartender, a culinary worker or any other person not directly connected with the game room operation;

GAME — Shall mean a game permitted under the laws of the State of California that is played with cards, tiles, tokens, or other devices (except mechanical or electronic equipment or devices) for money, checks, credits, chips, or any other thing of value, but not including parimutuel betting;

3. Editor's Note: Prior ordinances codified herein include prior 1958 Code §§21.8, 21.11; Ordinance Nos. 225, 661.

GAME ROOM OR GAMING FACILITY — Shall mean any place licensed under the provisions of this section where a person is permitted to play a game in return for a fee, charge or other compensation;

GAME TABLE — Shall mean a table or other surface upon which a game is played;

GROSS REVENUE — Shall mean and include the total amounts received for seat rental fees, admission fees, tournament fees, table revenues, room rental revenue, and any and all other revenues derived from gaming activities licensed pursuant to this section and conducted on or within the premises, except for revenue received from the sale of food or beverage through restaurant, bar or similar operations, or facility rentals, parking or merchandise sales, or any portion of fees charged to players that is returned to players;

IDENTIFICATION CARD — Shall mean a card issued by the Chief of Police to any employee or owner of a game room for the purposes of registration, under subsection 8-11.28;

KEY MANAGEMENT EMPLOYEE — Shall mean an employee designated on a list supplied to the City by the licensee as having primary responsibility for, and authority over, the operation of and policies concerning the gaming facility. The term key management employee may include one or more employees.

LEASE — Shall mean any formal or informal, written or oral contract or understanding or arrangement whereby any person operating a game room obtains the use or possession of any property, real or personal, to be used, occupied, or possessed in connection with the conduct of games at any game room. The term "lease" includes, without limitation, payments to an affiliated person under a real property lease, a personal property lease, an unsecured note, a deed of trust, a mortgage, or a trust indenture.

LESSOR — Shall mean any person who leases any property, real or personal, to a person operating a game room for use in connection with the conduct of games or related activities.

LICENSE — Shall mean a license granted by the Albany City Council to operate a game room;

LICENSEE — Shall mean a person who holds a valid license to operate a game room in the City;

OWNER OR POINTHOLDER — Shall mean each person having any beneficial interest in the ownership, profits, or revenue of a gaming facility, whether legal or equitable, and whether directly, or indirectly through another person, except that if the owner of the licensee is directly or indirectly wholly owned by a publicly-traded corporation, then the publicly-traded corporation and any persons directly in the chain of ownership between such publicly-traded corporation and the licensee shall not be deemed to be owners or pointholders for purposes of this section if each such person is directly or indirectly a wholly-owned subsidiary of such publicly-traded corporation. The licensee shall be deemed to be an owner and pointholder, except that if the licensee is a publicly-traded corporation, the shareholders of such corporation shall not be considered to be owners or pointholders.

PERSON — Shall mean and include a natural person, firm, association, partner, corporation, joint venture or any other legal entity.

PROPOSITION PLAYER — Shall mean an employee or other person who (1) participates in a game at the request, direction or demand of the licensee; (2) plays with his or her own money; and (3) is solely responsible for his or her own wins or losses;

PUBLICLY-TRADED CORPORATION — Shall mean a corporation, or a wholly-owned subsidiary thereof, with a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or under any nation's internationally recognized publicly-traded stock exchange.

RESPONSIBLE EMPLOYEE — Shall mean an employee whose name appears on a list supplied to the City by the licensee (and updated as necessary) and who has authority to exercise personal control and direction over the operation of the gaming facility during his or her work hours, and who is a key management employee, or who reports directly to a key management employee;

SHILL — Shall mean an employee or other person who participates in a game at the request, direction or demand of the licensee and where the licensee or the game room has a financial interest in the person's wins or losses.

A game room license shall only be issued for a gaming facility located in zoning district under the Albany Municipal Code zoning provisions that permits the operation of a gaming facility. No game room is allowed within five hundred (500') feet of the exterior property line of: an elementary, junior high or high school; or a district where residential use is the principal permitted use. A game room license is valid only for the location stated on the license.

Except as otherwise may be required by law, there shall be no more than one (1) game room license in the City of Albany until such time as the population of the City of Albany exceeds thirty thousand (30,000) people, in which case one (1) additional game room license may be issued.

Any licensee, pointholder, employee, person, or entity is entitled by the terms of this legislation and these regulations to receive as a legal entitlement nothing more than a license which is revocable in accordance with the terms thereof and in accordance with the provisions of this section. This section is intended for the purposes of licensing and regulation. This section does not create any interest in any land use decision, any permit allowing for any land use, and does not create any vested land use right or other property right related in any way whatsoever to any land use related matter.

The City shall have the full power and authority to adopt, make, exercise and enforce all provisions of this legislation and these regulations and to take all actions related to the municipal affairs that are conducted by virtue of the provisions of this section, without limitation as may be lawfully adopted, made, exercised, taken or enforced under the Constitution of the State of California and the charter powers of the City of Albany.

Without limiting in any manner these powers and authority, each of the regulations, rights, and responsibilities described in this section is hereby declared to be a municipal affair, the matters of which are of unique concern to the benefit of the citizens of the City of Albany.

In the event of any conflict between the provisions of this section and the provisions of the general law of the State of California, the provisions of this section, in the discretion of the City Council and unless otherwise decided by the City Council, shall control.

In the event that the State of California enacts provisions in its State Gaming Registration Act as codified in Division 8, Chapter 5 of California Business and Professions Code commencing with Section 19800, which regulate the processing of any requests for licenses, the City Council, by its own resolution, may opt to defer to the State all or any part of the City's requirements for registration, investigation, or licensing related matters.

Except as otherwise provided for in this section:

• a. It shall be unlawful for any person to keep, conduct or maintain within the city any house, room, apartment, stand or place used in whole or in part as a gambling house or place where any game not mentioned in Section 330 of the Penal Code of the State is played, conducted, dealt or carried on with cards, dice or other device for money;

• b. It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly to permit any house, room, apartment, stand or place owned by him or under his charge or control to be used in whole or in part as a gambling house or place for playing, conducting, dealing or carrying on any game not mentioned in Section 330 of the Penal Code of the State with cards, dice or other device for money, checks, chips or credit, except at a bona fide residence; and

• c. It shall be unlawful for any person to play or bet at or against any game not mentioned in Section 330 of the Penal Code which is played, conducted, dealt or carried on with cards, dice or other device for money, checks, chips or credit in any house, room, apartment or place described in this subsection.

• d. Every person who deals, plays or carries on, opens, or causes to be opened, or who conducts, either as owner or employee, whether for hire or not, any game of draw poker for money, checks, credit, or other representative of value, and every person who plays or bets at or against such game, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

It shall not, however, be unlawful to play any game of cards not mentioned in Section 330 of the Penal Code at a bona fide place of residence in the City for money, checks, chips or credit. A bona fide place of residence shall be construed to include a room used and occupied, not transiently but solely as a residence, in a dwelling house, apartment house, hotel or boarding house.