Paramount, CA Gambling & Gaming: Card Room Licensing (2026)

Chapter 5.44 of the Paramount Municipal Code defines a card club broadly: every business conducted as a card club, card room, card school, bridge club, social card club, public eating place, pool or billiard hall where card playing or instruction in card playing is conducted, whether as the whole business or as one of its activities. Under § 5.44.020, it is unlawful to conduct a card club without a permit issued after a hearing before the City Council. The City Clerk places the application on the Council agenda once it meets the requirements of § 5.04.060, and the Council holds a special hearing with at least five days' written notice to the applicant, unless the applicant appears and waives it. The applicant pays the City Clerk a $10.00 application fee. At the hearing the Council has the law enforcement agency's report in front of it and can investigate whether the applicant is of sufficient moral character and whether the location would be detrimental to public health, peace, safety or morals.

Section 5.44.030 separately bars any business license until the Council acts. The hearing is set not sooner than 15 days nor more than 30 days after the Council receives the application. Notice goes to the applicant and to the owners on the latest assessment roll for the block of the proposed club, and a notice in letters at least one inch high is posted in at least five places on that block. The notice is published three times within the 30-day period in a newspaper of general circulation, and the applicant pays for the publication and printing. Anyone interested can file written protests before the hearing. Under § 5.44.040 the license issues only on the Council's order.

Operating rules follow. Section 5.44.050 closes every card club from 12:01 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and from 12:01 a.m. on Sunday to 9:00 a.m. the following Monday. Only the owner and regular employees can stay on the premises while the club is closed. Operators must keep out intoxicated, quarrelsome or disorderly people (§ 5.44.060), and music, dancing and unnecessary noise are barred inside (§ 5.44.080).