The following article appeared on the front page of the Lodi News-Sentinel Saturday, Mar 10, 2007

Some in Lodi feel a card room doesn't suit area

By Matt Brown
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, Mar 10, 2007 - 07:11:35 am PST

When Ken Owen was growing up with eight siblings in Lodi, his family was devastated by an alcoholic father with a gambling addiction. Now the Christian Community Concerns director is on a quest to limit gambling in Lodi.

"I have first hand experience of the poverty we lived in because of my father," he said. "We got the leftovers after he fed his gambling habit. No one has to tell me how devastating this is to families."

Owen's 500-member organization is seeking to block a local card room's move and expansion. Owen said he also wants to see gambling scaled back in Lodi.

"Gambling is the same as any addictive problem," he said. "Hundreds of families will be destroyed in Lodi because of this expansion."

Last year, the City Council expanded the number of card tables from six to eight. The city only allows one card room, a place for popular poker games such as Texas Hold 'Em.

Axtion Jaxson on Sacramento Street, the city's only card room, petitioned the Planning Commission to move and expand to a location on Cherokee Lane. The commission approved the move in February by a 3-2 vote and now Owen's group is appealing the decision to the council.

Owen thinks the location, at 1800 S. Cherokee Lane on the site of the former Jazzy J's, is not a good place for a card room because it is across the street from a residential neighborhood.

"Anytime you bring a vice into a neighborhood it devaluates the property values," he said. “It generates a group of undesirable people that come into that neighborhood.”

The expanded card room, which will be known as Wine Country Casino and Restaurant, is owned by Jack Morgan, who owns Axtion Jaxson, David and Natalie Lewis, who own the Cameo Club card room in Stockton and four others. The casino is confident that the council will deny the appeal, casino manager Ryan Lewis said.

"There isn't a big zoning issue," he said. "The business is legal and allowed in Lodi."

Lewis said the casino's partners have a lot invested in the project.

"We spent two-and-a -half years on this business," he said. "Of all the buildings we looked at, this was the best. This is an opportunity to put a thriving business back in Lodi."

The card room's opening date of April 1 has been pushed back a month to accommodate the April 18 appeal hearing before the council. The council could deny the card room's permit with a 3-2 vote.

Councilman Phil Katzakian said he hasn't made up his mind on the issue.

"I am keeping an open mind," he said. "They're working within the law. They are just relocating. If you don't like card rooms, you are kind of out of luck."

First published: Saturday, March 10, 2007

Gambling in Lodi timeline

• 1955, Lodi passes ordinance allowing lowball and draw poker.

• May 1999, city approves limit of six poker tables.

• April 2003, Axtion Jaxson card room receives permit.

• June 2006, city allows other games such as Texas Hold 'Em and expands limit to eight tables.

• Feb. 2007, Planning Commission approves Axtion Jaxson's move and expansion.

• April 2007, City Council will consider an appeal to block the move and expansion.

— News-Sentinel staff