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Big Problem For LA's Smallest City: No Casino Cash
The Gardens Casino in Hawaiian Gardens normally is open 24/7 but the doors are now chained closed. (Sharon McNary/LAist)
Hawaiian Gardens is a tiny city with a big money problem.
The shutdown of The Gardens Casino in mid-March is costing the city 70 percent of its regular revenue — $1.1 million each month.
The loss will force cancellation of many services to the predominantly Latino, low-income city, just one square mile in size.
"I've been in this business for twenty years and I've been at six other cities and there's just really nothing like it,” said City Manager Ernie Hernandez.
“The bottom line is, nobody depends this much on one source.”
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