California: last San Diego's card room permanently shuts down

A San Diego card room, Lucky Lady, which had closed in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been permanently shut down due to the fact that its owner Stanley S. Penn was reportedly running illegal sports betting operations out of the business. The Lucky Lady was the last legally operating licensed card club in a city that once had more than 100 card rooms.

On Thursday, The California Attorney General’s office announced a settlement with the owner, stating that his license would be revoked and he would pay $125,000 in penalties, along with $50,000 to cover the California Department of Justice’s investigative costs.

“Anyone who gambles knows there are rules to every game,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. “And when you don’t play by the rules, you pay the price. Today, a San Diego card room is closed because its owner chose to operate outside of California’s laws and allow illegal sports betting operations to be run out of his business. When a person decides profits are more important than the law, we must take action and enforce the law,” reports the Times of San Diego.

In 2016, Penn was one of 14 people indicted in an investigation into an illegal sportsbook run out of the card room that included years of FBI wiretaps, a confidential informant, and surveillance.

The Department of Justice’s Bureau of Gambling Control filed the accusation against him.