Steve Ayers to Turn Sacramento Elks Tower into Card Room
Steve Ayers, Sacramento businessman and the owner of the 14-storey building at the corner of 11th and J Street, hopes that the state will grant him the licence of the former Casino Royale sometime in September.
The Elks Tower Casino and Lounge would initially operate at the 8,000 square feet ground floor of the historic building. Further down the line, if the phase one of Elks Casino proves profitable, they would expand to the phase two and transform the basement floor of 23,000 square feet into a 17-table poker room which is also the state limit.
Elks Casino would be opened 24/7 to the public. Apart from the card room and lounge, it would include a restaurant, a bar and a special “spirits library” that will serve rare beverages to its guests. A special chocolate and port area would also be opened later on. Phase one would open by the end of November and phase two would be completed by the end of 2018 if they receive all the approvals.
“This is going to be an upper-class nice resort location,” said Peter Dannenfelser, the architect on the project.
The California Bureau of Gambling Control shut down Casino Royale in 2014 for not paying wins to its customers. The owner settled and paid a fine of $228,980 and court charges of $146,020 and other card rooms immediately began raising legal concerns about who will get that card-room licence since only four card rooms can operate within the city.
The City Council wasn’t very open to allowing the opening of a new card room but Ayers secured the support from the Downtown Sacramento Partnership and a conditional-use permit was granted in April.
The City Council unanimously voted to allow the project to move forward. The department of justice still has not granted the fourth licence to Ayers but his team says that the licence is pending, but the team working on the project believes The Elks Casino would be the huge asset for the city.
