SAN JOSE -- San Jose's newest card room, Casino M8trix, is finally open, but owners are still after city officials over a four-month delay in issuing their permits.

The M8trix owners filed a claim against the city Friday for unspecified damages of more than $10,000 for the "unpredictable nature and frequent delays" in San Jose's licensing process. Damage claims are a required step before filing a civil lawsuit against the city.

In addition to the four-month permit delay for ground-floor gambling, the casino still faces uncertainty over a pending application to allow additional games on the top floor of its eight-story tower.

The 16-page claim says Casino M8trix, which formerly operated as the Garden City Casino on Saratoga Avenue, was "forced to bear the costs of continuously coordinating and rescheduling all the logistics necessary for the opening of their new facility."

The M8trix owners said they had initially been led to believe they could open April 3. The casino opened Aug. 8.

The M8trix owners had lost a lawsuit over the summer in which they asked a judge to compel the city to issue permits they needed to open. The judge ruled that while the process was understandably frustrating, the city had not abused its discretion in ensuring that police can effectively monitor the card room, one of two in San Jose.

City Attorney Rick Doyle called the claim "unfortunate."

"The M8trix folks were slow in getting all of the

Advertisement
information required for the city to process the application," Doyle said. "Once the information was received and verified, the city moved fairly quickly to approve the opening of the casino."

Contact John Woolfolk at 408-975-9346. Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/johnwoolfolk1.