Gaming good. Stripping crappy.

Traveling Freeway 5 through the Southern Bay and you may find the latest flashy billboards beckoning one Eight Distance Local casino. Located on Bay Boulevard within the Chula Horizon, the casino is actually a crazy piece of content replete which have haute food, a fashionable bar, a good glassed-from inside the deck, a waterfall, and you can valet vehicle parking.

7 Distance Gambling establishment held the grand opening toward July 23. Chula Vista’s entire area council – Pat Aguilar, Pamela Bensoussan, John McCann, and Steve Miesen – registered casino proprietor Harvey Souza towards the stage set right up in the front of your own casino. Gran Mary Casillas Salas stood beside Souza waving a large fortunate seven from expensive diamonds credit on resting crowd.

Chula Views fetes Eight Kilometer Casino since the FBI discusses they

None of the social rates appeared to have qualms about just what looked like cheerleading to possess gaming, and all the did actually enjoys amnesia towards fact that Souza’s earlier in the day facilities, the latest Village Club Credit Place into the Broadway, is raided by Government Bureau off Evaluation inside 2014 – and will nevertheless be below analysis.

This specialized help for one adult-amusement institution contrasts which have Chula Vista’s successful work to close off off the latest EyeCandy remove joint lower than a kilometer aside. Just after a-two-season court race, a judge ordered EyeCandy to close off down during the .

Since then, Seven Mile Gambling enterprise and you can Souza’s status in the community features ascended. In Sep, the Foreign-language-vocabulary area magazine Los angeles Prensa, newly gotten from the political consultant Art Castanares, carried the full-page offer getting Eight Distance Gambling enterprise and you can a lifestyle tale on Souza, called, “Harvey Souza: A life seriously interested in Chula Views.” The new bit makes reference to Souza just like the a dynamic philanthropist and you may says the guy has given millions to help you nonprofits such as Southern Bay Neighborhood Characteristics. The brand new La Prensa blog post comes with an enthusiastic egalitarian estimate away from Souza: “We are all equal once we is located at new gambling tables. Right here, your socioeconomic reputation otherwise job don’t amount.”

Souza try important from the regional political leaders, and he has long been advisable that you her or him. Into the an early race for more dining tables, Souza hired former mayor Cheryl Cox to-be their agent. Inside 1998, it actually was Cox whom pled their case up until the area council.

Centered on a great Commitment-Tribune article of that time, Cox contended, “Mr. Souza is during so it to possess their providers and also to perpetuate 53 several years of good control regarding a business that has been a beneficial to possess Chula Opinions, and has now perhaps not levied the type of stress on their governmental numbers we you’ll worry, should we keep an eye out during the institutions with 180–2 hundred dining tables.”

Not every person inside the Chula Opinions is out-of Cox’s persuasion. Paul Pfingst, who was simply section attorney at that time, arrived before city council so you can event the latest extension. An effective Relationship -Tribune post quoted Pfingst arguing, “[B]ecause there is a large amount of cash running right through this new exact same people, an opportunity for the money laundering or other sorts of things are way more establish.” The guy together with indicated so you can “excessive has an effect on one large-scale gambling may have towards decided officials.”

Even for the 2003, while you are she try offering due to the fact an effective Chula Views Primary trustee and you can seated into city’s charter-comment panel, Cox stated that she are being employed as a consultant with the Community Pub Credit Room. And when Cox went to possess , she gotten $thirteen,100 in the card room on her venture.

Souza has always been big with politicians. Immediately, the utmost promotion sum anyone can make to an excellent council applicant was $320 for every single election duration. In the past round out-of elections, Souza and his awesome wife Bette as one gave Salas $600, McCann $600, Aguilar $620, and you will Bensoussan $620; councilmember Miesen is appointed, very he collected no strategy contributions.