Napa Valley Casino employees picketed American Canyon City Hall Monday while inside the city manager and city attorney discussed revoking the card room’s business license. Casino owners were given until the weekend to file for a new license with updated information.

With the support of more than 60 employees and their friends and relatives, Napa Valley Casino won a reprieve Monday morning from losing its license to do business in American Canyon.
Card room workers waved picket signs in front of City Hall and packed council chambers for a hearing with City Manager Richard Ramirez and City Attorney William Ross.
The casino’s lawyer told Ramirez and Ross the city erred when it threatened on Nov. 18 to revoke the card room’s business license.
At the time, Ramirez said the casino was out of compliance with state business regulations. According to Ramirez, Napa Valley Casino’s right to do business has been suspended by the California Secretary of State’s Office.
At Monday’s hearing, Steven R. Disharoon of Wood, Smith, Henning & Verman LLP, representing casino owner Brian Altizer and his partners, argued that the city had gotten it wrong.
“Napa Valley Casino,” Disharoon said, is merely a fictitious business name. The real corporate entity is BVK Gaming, Inc., he said.
“Fictitious names don’t need to be registered with the state,” Disharoon said.
The secretary of state’s website shows BVK Gaming in good standing.
In rebuttal, Ross argued that the name on the city’s business license should “accurately reflect” its business presence and that city and state information should agree. Signs and advertising for the card room call it “Napa Valley Casino.”
Disharoon also accused Ramirez of bias against the card room and suggested the outgoing city manager should not have the final word on the casino’s business license status.
Ramirez proposed a way to settle this flap. “Can your clients file a new business license with the name of the correct corporate entity that is doing business in the city of American Canyon?” he asked.
After a brief huddle with Altizer and his partner, Keith Miller, Disharoon agreed they could.
Ramirez gave the card room five working days to file a corrected license.
The card room is in an ongoing dispute with the city over a tax passed by city voters last year. The admissions tax imposed a $2 entrance fee on card room visitors. Altizer and his lawyers argue that such a fee violates state gaming laws and the state and federal constitutions, and have filed a civil lawsuit to block the tax.

The city has filed a criminal complaint for non-payment of the tax.
After the hearing, Napa Valley Casino employees said the city was threatening their jobs.

Renato Racela said he has worked at Napa Valley Casino for five years and commutes every day from Concord. Racela said it costs him $1,400 per month to keep his son in college and that he feared for his livelihood should the card room close.

“I’m 57,” Racela said. “How can I get a (new) job now?”
James Tanyao said he was unemployed for more than a year before landing his job at Napa Valley Casino. Tanyao said he is the sole supporter of his sick wife and their three children. Tanyao said he was skeptical the city would issue a new business license for the card room.

“They won’t approve it,” he said.

But Dennis Luddy, who’s worked at the card room for 15 years under three owners, said he thought the differences would be resolved.

“I can’t see the city wanting to take jobs away,” Luddy said. Luddy, who also runs several Bay Area schools for card dealers, including one in American Canyon, said the admissions tax is illegal and the table tax proposed by the city to replace it under a development agreement was “five times more than every average-size card room.”

Still, Luddy said, he was optimistic. “I think everything will work itself out,” he said.

A settlement conference for the city’s nonpayment complaint is scheduled for Dec. 6.

No date has been set yet for the card room’s civil suit.