He did not violate the terms of his deferred prosecution agreement, and all charges were dropped in April 2020. Penn, now 83, did not respond to several requests for an interview sent to him and via lawyers. The step-up in regulations passed some of these mom-and-pops by.” “New regulations come in, and he’s not used to doing things that way.

“A guy like Stanley Penn was used to operating in a certain way for a long time,” Blonien said. Over time new regulations and financial compliance requirements put new demands on the businesses that many could not or were not interested in meeting, said Jarhett Blonien, a lobbyist who represents card rooms around the state. Much to the consternation of tribal casinos that dominate the state’s gaming market, card rooms now offer a suite of casino-style games, and not only poker. In recent years, they have been replaced by a new breed, more corporate and better capitalized, that seek to change the industry’s image from cramped and sweaty rooms to airy casino-like venues. Penn is also among the last of the old-style card room owners in San Diego, and the state: sole proprietors, often tavern owners who had a few tables in the back room, who ran the clubs featuring mostly poker games like a small family-owned business. The Lucky Lady was the last legally operating licensed card club in a city that once had more than 100 card rooms - Alibi on Richmond Street, Doc’s Lo-Ball Poker at 61st and El Cajon Boulevard, House of Cards on Ocean View Boulevard.

It was an answer that was both a promise, and a kind of epitaph for the business he had toiled in for 40 years.īecause last month, after a year when the business was shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic, Penn sold the Lucky Lady property in the El Cerrito neighborhood to the Family Health Centers of San Diego, and permanently closed the casino.Īnd with that, San Diego’s once-thriving card room industry ended, likely never to be seen again.

Seven mile casino poker room