The City Council voted 5-3 against allowing a fifth cardroom license within city limits Tuesday.

“The question is simply: Do we want 15 more tables of gaming somewhere in the city?” asked Councilman Rob Fong before the vote. “For me, the answer is no.”

Sacramento city code currently allows a maximum of four licenses – all four of which are held by open cardrooms in the city.

Bill Hamilton, owner of the Old Tavern Bar and Grill in Midtown, used to have a cardroom license in the late 1990’s but let it lapse.

The Gambling Control Commission recently adopted a regulation to allow some expired and inactive cardroom licenses to be reactivated under certain conditions.

Gambling licenses in the state expire if they are not renewed every two years, or they can become inactive if a license holder fails to make required quarterly “table operation” fees.

One of the conditions to reactivate an expired license is proving to the commission that the cardroom would be legal under local law. As it stands in Sacramento, the legal limit has been reached for number of allowable cardrooms.

Of all the expired or inactive licences in the state, the commission found only nine licenses in California that met the criteria for reactivation – and just one of those is in Sacramento.

It belongs to Hamilton.

Even though Hamilton is eligible to reactivate the license, he can’t do it unless the city code is changed to increase the maximum number of cardrooms in the city.

The Law and Legislation committee reviewed the current cardroom ordinance Aug. 16 and referred the question of increasing the limit to the full City Council for a decision.

Clark Rosa, owner of Capitol Casino on 16th Street, said Tuesday that when he and Hamilton heard of the new state regulation, they decided to collaborate on opening a new cardroom downtown if the city license ordinance was changed in Hamilton’s favor.

“I will operate, fund it and run it,” Rosa said, “and Bill (Hamilton) will have a portion of it.”

Initially, Rosa said, he and Hamilton were considering locating the new cardroom in a space at 15th and L Streets, near de Vere’s Pub across from the Capitol.

That idea changed, Rosa said, after taking a closer look at opportunities near the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street.

“We’re looking at downtown and only downtown now,” Rosa said. “We don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Specifically, Rosa and Hamilton had their eyes on a corner space at the Westfield Downtown Plaza that used to house the Hard Rock Cafe.

“They’re putting in bars, restaurants, housing and businesses,” Rosa said about redevelopment efforts underway along those city blocks.

“What you’re looking at is an entertainment center for Sacramento,” Rosa said. “What better than a cardroom and sports bar combination right there?”

Seven people made pubic comment on the proposed ordinance change at the council meeting Tuesday – and not all of them were as enthusiastic as Rosa about having a cardroom downtown.

“I want to be clear that I am against (a fifth cardroom),” Sacramento homeowner Clint Trocchio, told council members.

“It is not synonymous with any urban renewal program that I can recall,” Trocchio said. “It’s not a business activity that I would attach to Sacramento’s excellent urban reputation, and it’s not a storefront that I would show to my guests.”

Shelby Moranville, a representative of the Residence Inn at 15th and L streets – near Rosa and Hamilton’s initial location choice – warned council members about the potential for increased crime if another cardroom is opened in the city.

“(Cardrooms) attract a certain element of crime and that can’t be avoided,” Moranville said. “For every dollar the city makes from another cardroom, 95 cents will be spent policing the venue.”

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel, who appeared at Tuesday’s meeting to give council an update on police department activities, was called on by council members to respond to concerns about cardroom-related crime.

Braziel told council members that local grocery stores have a greater number of police service calls than all four of the current cardrooms combined – nearly 10 times as many.

“The crime volume (associated with cardrooms) is very very low,” Braziel said. “In the past nine months, there was 19-34 calls between the four cardrooms. Grocery stores go from 42-400 in a single year.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said she thinks the fifth license and a new cardroom would be a great opportunity for jobs downtown.

“We have so much coming in to create a unique entertainment center downtown,” Ashby said. “For me, this is about jobs. (Rosa and Hamilton) are not asking us for one red penny – they are asking us to give them the opportunity to continue to do a good job (running a cardroom).”

As the discussion continued, council members expressed the greatest concern about the potential location of a new cardroom.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said she had “serious heartburn” about the proposed Westfield Downtown Plaza location.

“I think of malls as a family-oriented place,” Sheedy said. “I don’t think a cardroom fits there.”

Council members Rob Fong, Sheedy, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted against the proposed ordnance change, leaving the current license limit in place.

Council members Ashby, Steve Cohn, and Jay Schenirer were in favor of changing the ordinance. Mayor Kevin Johnson was absent from the meeting Tuesday.

Without the possibility of a fifth cardroom license in the city, Hamilton cannot pursue reactivation of the expired license he previously held.

After the meeting, Rosa said he was disappointed with the council’s decision.

“That’s the end of it,” Rosa said. “Before (Hamilton and I) could work on getting the (cardroom) license, we first had to get past this hurdle.”

Rosa said they will not be pursuing an appeal to council to change the decision.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.