A. It is unlawful for any Licensee or any person having any interest whatsoever or at all in the ownership of a Card Club, whether legal or equitable, or as trustor or trustee, or of whatsoever kind or character, to sell or transfer such points and/or interest without the prior, written consent and permission of the City Council.
B. Sales and transfers cannot be approved any earlier than five (5) years from the date the License is issued.
C. Any person desiring to sell, transfer, assign, or otherwise hypothecate any point or interest in a Card Club duly licensed pursuant to the provisions of this Chapter shall file with the City Manager a written application for permission to transfer such interest, as is hereinafter described. Each such application shall contain and clearly and truthfully set forth, under oath and/or affirmation, and show, in addition to such other information as the City Manager and/or the City Council may require, the following information:
1. The date of the application;
2. The true name of the Applicant and proposed purchaser or transferee, and any other name by which the proposed purchaser or transferee has been known;
3. The status of the proposed purchaser or transferee as being an individual, corporation, association, partnership, joint venture, trustor or trustee;
4. The residence and business address for the last five (5) years of the proposed purchaser or transferee, if an individual;
5. If the transferee is other than an individual, the true name, residence and business address for the last five (5) years of each of the proposed purchaser or transferee Pointholders, partners and officers;
6. A full and complete financial statement of the proposed purchaser or transferee, whether it is an individual, corporation, partnership or other entity, and a full and complete financial statement of each proposed purchaser or transferee Pointholder, partner or officer; provided, the financial statements required by this Subsection shall be deemed confidential in character and shall not be open to public inspection, but shall be available to those city officials having jurisdiction over the provisions of this Chapter;
7. The name of the licensed Card Club for which a transfer of interest or point is sought;
8. The number of points and/or the nature of interest sought to be sold, transferred, assigned or otherwise hypothecated; and
9. A statement that the proposed purchaser has applied for or has been granted a license issued by the California Gambling Control Commission.
10. A statement that the application will be considered by the City Council only after a full investigation and report has been made by the City Manager and the report of investigation forwarded to the City Council.
D. Investigation Required. Whenever an application pursuant to the provisions of this Section has been filed with the City for a sale or transfer pursuant to the provisions of this Section, the City Manager shall promptly and diligently make an investigation and shall report to the City Council with reference thereto within thirty (30) days from the filing of the application, as follows:
1. A full and complete investigation of the proposed purchaser or transferee (including the proposed Pointholders, partners or officers), including a determination that the proposed purchaser has applied for or obtained a valid Gambling Establishment and Owner license issued by the California Gambling Control Commission;
2. Concurrently with the filing of the application, each person named in the application as a proposed purchaser or transferee, or Pointholder, partner or officer thereof, shall be fingerprinted by the City Manager or his/her designee. No application shall be deemed filed until the fingerprinting is completed.
E. License Fees. Each such sale or transfer application shall be accompanied by a processing fee in the amount as established by Section 5.16.060, to cover the cost of the investigation. The fee shall be the property of and be retained by the City, whether the application for sale or transfer is granted or denied.
F. Granting or Denial of Application.
1. Whenever an application for such a sale or transfer is presented to the City Council, the City Council shall consider such application on the same basis as is applicable to a new License application.
2. The City Council shall not approve an application if the proposed purchaser has not first obtained a valid Gambling Establishment and Owner license issued by the California Gambling Control Commission. Otherwise, the City Council may, in its sole discretion, either approve, conditionally approve, or deny the application, with or without specification of grounds. The decision of the City Council shall be final and conclusive.
3. The Applicant shall agree as part of this application that the sole and exclusive discretion as to the granting or denial of any such application shall be vested in the City Council.
[Ord. No. 249, § 190, adopted 9/22/92; Ord. No. 462, Section 3, 5/9/07; amended by Ord. No. 646, § 2, adopted 12/13/23.]