19960-19966
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 (d) The authorization of subdivision (c) is subject to Sections 19962 and 19963 until those sections are repealed. 19961.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.