Casino King Shuffles the Deck

The Colma City Council has approved a transfer of ownership of Lucky Chances Casino from accused tax cheat Rene Medina to two of his sons, Rommel, 34, and Ruell, 30.

The vote Wednesday night was 4-0.

It comes two weeks after the California Gambling Control Commission granted gambling licenses to the sons. As SF Weekly reported in May, the transfer was widely anticipated after Medina was indicted last year for allegedly cheating the government out of nearly $1 million in taxes. He's free on $6 million bail while awaiting trial.

If convicted, state gaming law would preclude the elder Medina from owning the card club. So the time was right for some, shall we say, estate planning.

Still, the casino kingpin's attorney and Sacramento power lobbyist Rod Blonien tells the San Mateo Daily News that the transfer has nothing to do with the indictment.

OK.

Meanwhile, one of the little fish scooped up in the FBI probe of Medina's casino, former Colma mayor Phillip Blum, is headed to prison for secretly accepting gifts from Medina while casting votes favoring the club. As the Chronicle reports today, a judge gave Blum 18 months in the slammer.--Ron Russell