SECTIONS 19960-19966 - California Statutes

BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS CODE

SECTION 19960-19966

19960. This chapter shall not prohibit the enactment, amendment, or
enforcement of any ordinance by any city, county, or city and county
relating to licensed gambling establishments that is not
inconsistent with this chapter. No city, county, or city and county
shall issue a gambling license with respect to any gambling
establishment unless one of the following is true:
(a) The gambling establishment is located in a city, county, or
city and county wherein, after January 1, 1984, an ordinance was
adopted by the electors of the city, county, or city and county, in
an election conducted pursuant to former Section 19819 of the
Business and Professions Code, as that section read immediately
before its repeal by the act that enacted this chapter.
(b) The gambling establishment is located in a city, county, or
city and county wherein, prior to January 1, 1984, there was in
effect an ordinance that expressly authorized the operation of one or
more cardrooms.
(c) After the effective date of this chapter, a majority of the
electors voting thereon affirmatively approve a measure permitting
controlled gambling within that city, county, or city and county.
(1) The measure to permit controlled gambling shall appear on the
ballot in substantially the following form:
"Shall licensed gambling establishments in which any controlled games
permitted by law, such as draw poker, low-ball poker, panguine
(pan), seven-card stud, or other lawful card games or tile games, are
played, be allowed in _____ Yes ____ No ____."

(2) In addition, the initial implementing ordinances shall be
drafted and appear in full on the sample ballot and shall set forth
at least all of the following:
(A) The hours of operation.
(B) The games to be played.
(C) The wagering limits.
(D) The maximum number of gambling establishments permitted by the
ordinance.
(E) The maximum number of tables permitted in each gambling
establishment.
(d) The authorization of subdivision (c) is subject to Sections
19962 and 19963 until those sections are repealed.

19961. (a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), on or after the
effective date of this chapter, any amendment to any ordinance that
would result in an expansion of gambling in the city, county, or city
and county, shall not be valid unless the amendment is submitted for
approval to the voters of the city, county, or city and county, and
is approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1) and Section 19962, an ordinance
may be amended without the approval of the electors after the
effective date of this chapter to expand gambling by a change that
results in an increase of less than 25 percent with respect to any of
the matters set forth in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (5) of
subdivision (b). Thereafter, any additional expansion shall be
approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon.
(b) For the purposes of this article, "expansion of gambling"
means, when compared to that authorized on January 1, 1996, or under
an ordinance adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 19960,
whichever is the lesser number, a change that results in any of the
following:
(1) An increase of 25 percent or more in the number of gambling
tables in the city, county, or city and county.
(2) An increase of 25 percent or more in the number of licensed
card rooms in the city, county, or city and county.
(3) An increase of 25 percent or more in the number of gambling
tables that may be operated in a gambling establishment in the city,
county, or city and county.
(4) The authorization of any additional form of gambling, other
than card games, that may be legally played in this state, to be
played at a gambling establishment in the city, county, or city and
county.
(5) An increase of 25 percent or more in the hours of operation of
a gambling establishment in the city, county, or city and county.
(c) The measure to expand gambling shall appear on the ballot in
substantially the following form: "Shall gambling be expanded in ____
beyond that operated or authorized on January 1, 1996, by ____
(describe expansion) Yes ____ No ____."
(d) The authorization of subdivision (c) is subject to Sections
19962 and 19963 until those sections are repealed.
(e) Increasing the number of games offered in a gambling
establishment does not constitute an expansion of gambling pursuant
to this section.
(f) No city, county, or city and county shall amend its ordinance
in a cumulative manner to increase gambling by more than 25 percent
for the factors listed in subdivision (b), when compared to that
authorized on January 1, 1996, without conducting an election
pursuant to this section.

19961.06. Notwithstanding Sections 19961 and 19962, a city, county,
or city and county may amend an ordinance to increase by two the
number of gambling tables that may be operated in a gambling
establishment in the city, county, or city and county, compared to
the ordinance that was in effect on January 1, 2010. A city, county,
or city and county may exercise the authority provided by this
section only one time, but this authority shall be in addition to any
authorization under any other law for a city, county, or city and
county to increase the number of gambling tables that may be operated
in a gambling establishment in the city, county, or city and county.

19961.1. Any amendment to a city or county ordinance relating to
gambling establishments, or the Gambling Control Act, shall be
submitted to the department for review and comment, before the
ordinance is adopted by the city or county.

19962. (a) On and after the effective date of this chapter, neither
the governing body nor the electors of a county, city, or city and
county that has not authorized legal gaming within its boundaries
prior to January 1, 1996, shall authorize legal gaming.
(b) An ordinance in effect on January 1, 1996, that authorizes
legal gaming within a city, county, or city and county may not be
amended to expand gaming in that jurisdiction beyond that permitted
on January 1, 1996.
(c) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2010.(d)
This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and
as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is
enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends that date.

19963. (a) In addition to any other limitations on the expansion of
gambling imposed by Section 19962 or any provision of this chapter,
the commission may not issue a gambling 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 department prior to September 1, 2000.
(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends
that date.

19964. No city, county, or city and county may grant, or permit to
continue in effect, a license to deal, operate, carry on, conduct,
maintain, or expose for play any controlled game to any applicant or
holder of a local license unless the applicant or local licensee is
an owner licensee as defined in this chapter. However, the issuance
of a state gambling license to a person imposes no requirements upon
the city, county, or city and county to issue a license to the
person.

19965. Notwithstanding Sections 19961 and 19962, a city, county, or
city and county may amend an ordinance to increase the number of
gambling tables that may be operated in a gambling establishment as
follows:
(a) If the ordinance in effect on July 1, 2007, provided for five
to eight tables, inclusive, the amended ordinance may allow an
increase of three tables.
(b) If the ordinance in effect on July 1, 2007, provided for nine
to 12 tables, inclusive, the amended ordinance may allow an increase
of four tables.

19966. If a gambling establishment is located in an unincorporated
area annexed by a city, notwithstanding Section 19960 or 19962,
without a local election other than the election to approve the
annexation, the city acquiring jurisdiction may adopt an ordinance
permitting and regulating controlled gaming in the existing gambling
establishment, providing hours of operation, the games to be played,
wagering limits, the maximum number of gambling establishments, and
the maximum number of tables permitted in each gambling
establishment, the same as those limits in any ordinance or
resolutions that formerly applied to the gambling establishment.
Where this article refers to an expansion of gaming as compared to
that permitted on January 1, 1996, for the purposes of this section,
that reference shall be to the ordinance or resolutions that governed
the gambling establishment as of that date.