Lucky Chances owner transfers card club to his sons

Rene Medina, the San Francisco entrepreneur whose most lucrative enterprise over the years has been Lucky Chances Casino in Colma, may be a convicted felon, but apparently he has bluffed state gambling regulators into keeping his prize business in the family.

Last October, Medina, 62, copped guilty pleas on three counts of felony income tax evasion after admitting that he fabricated more than $1.1 million in business expenses attributed to the card club from 1999 to 2001. He is awaiting sentencing by a federal judge.

But it's the casino king's maneuver to transfer ownership of the poker palace to two of his sons that has his critics gnashing their teeth.

The state Gambling Control Act prohibits convicted felons from obtaining or holding gaming licenses, and requires that any lender who has significant influence over a card club be licensed as well. In renewing the card club's license last June, the California Gambling Control Commission required that Medina's name remain on it despite his having "sold" the casino to his sons, Rommel and Ruell — after providing them with the $48 million for the purchase via an unsecured loan.

The expectation, those familiar with the matter say, was that the commission would revisit the club's license arrangement once Medina's tax evasion charges were resolved. But records show that in August, two months ahead of his guilty pleas, Medina was able to circumvent such scrutiny by voluntarily requesting that his name be deleted as the casino's only "financial interest holder," and that the commission staff complied.

That request came from Medina representative Rodney Blonien, a former assistant U.S. Attorney turned Sacramento lobbyist, who represents some of the state's biggest card clubs, records show.

"We believe what Mr. Medina has accomplished is little more than a sham," says James Butler, who heads the California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. Butler, who is skeptical that Medina has stepped away from operating the casino, contends that the convicted former owner "was able to do administratively what he apparently couldn't do" before the commission itself.

Neither Rommel Medina, 35, nor Ruell Medina, 31, returned phone calls seeking comment. An employee who answered the phone at the card club said that Rene Medina was unavailable, but that he was usually there in the evenings.

A Gambling Control Commission spokeswoman did not return phone calls seeking comment. However, as the commission's executive director, Steven Giorgi, wrote to Butler in February, "As to the sale of the club to the Medina brothers, commission staff carefully reviewed the sale and concluded that Mr. Medina had no security interest in the club."

That answer doesn't satisfy Butler. In June, when Lucky Chances' license comes up for renewal, Butler says his group will press for proof that Medina isn't still involved at the club. "The gambling commission should have an interest in making sure that charades of this type do not take place," he says.