Submitted by admin on Sat, 06/02/2016 - 19:15
California’s Bicycle Club Casino is reinvented with a new look, focus and mission. By David McKee
In its 30-plus years, the Bicycle Casino, in Bell Gardens, has led a colorful life. “The Bike,” as it’s known to players and locals, was founded in 1984 by George Hardie Sr. The elder Hardie, however, was not fortunate in his choice of financiers. His backer, Sam Gilbert, was alleged to have underwritten the Bicycle Club as a means of laundering drug money. In April 1990, a federal court in Miami, Florida, ordered the Bicycle Club to be forfeited to the government to satisfy a tax lien. Thus, the U.S. government would find itself for much of the 1990s in the piquant position of running a California card room.
