The Aviator Casino Bar & Grill in Delano has made its mark as a successful adult entertainment venue in its short existence since its recent opening on Feb. 1 of this year.

With its aviation theme, the casino has a unique style and atmosphere. According to Al Adler, the casino’s owner, patrons can enjoy the fine dining, have a cocktail or two and try their luck at several different types of casino style card games along with having the opportunity to win money and prizes from their daily promotions. They also have tournaments daily that anyone 21 and over can enter.

“The difference between us and our competitors like Golden West Casino is that we never charge a collection fee to play blackjack,” said Adler.

Adler who also owns an oil exploration company, ABA Energy, prides himself on being a business man. Having been a competitive poker player with a simple love for the game and being savvy for business, is what led Adler to open the Aviator casino card room. He stated that he first became interested in the business side of casinos while playing competitive poker.

It took about four and a half years to open the Aviator’s doors with all the tight state and local regulations. Adler said that as of 1997 there haven’t been any more licenses being issued to open this particular type of casino card rooms in California. As a result anyone wishing to obtain a license must purchase one already in existence making them a valuable commodity.

Opening a casino is no easy task, because first you have to find a licensed location and those applying are thoroughly checked out by the Department of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office. “You have to be squeaky clean to get approval,” said Adler and added, “I think they went as far back as even knowing who my kindergarten teacher was.”

The Aviator casino is a type of casino known as a California card room and differs from the normal Nevada regulated casinos. There are no slot machines and in the Nevada casinos, it’s the casinos that bank all the wagers so when a person wins, the casino pays and if they lose the losses go to the casino. Yet, with the state regulations in California, they demand that the casinos merge with a third party source to bank all gambling wagers. This means there is an outside source that covers all the bets being played throughout the casino and any wins or losses are not paid out from or paid to the casino directly, but to the third party banking source. It is up to the casino to choose the banking source they wish to partner with and the mergence becomes a business agreement between the two parties. Adler said that as the owner of the casino, he is responsible for providing the building, the card tables and the dealers, etc., but the actual money transference from the gambling is the responsibility of the third party banking source.

Another interesting note for those who may like to gamble, anyone playing at a blackjack table showing they have a sufficient amount of funds on hand to cover all bets can be the bank for all those bets being played at their table.

Even though he is a licensed pilot and the casino is located directly next to the Delano Municipal Airport, Adler accredits his wife Lee Anne for its unique aviation style décor. “We are only 400 yards from the runway,” said Adler.

The casino’s general manager, Kyle Morris, has a lengthy profile within the gambling industry and is originally from Nevada. In the past, he has done some work on poker television shows and has been a gambling technical consultant for three major motion pictures, the movie “21”, “Ocean’s Thirteen” and “Lucky You”. Morris even played the role of a blackjack dealer in the movie “21”.

Prior to doing work on TV and in pictures, Morris said, “I was lucky enough to travel all over the world to help with the opening of casinos in Australia, China and even as far away as India.”

After making a name for himself in the gambling industry with an expertise in training employees and as an advisory consultant, Morris was approached by Adler back in 2006 to work on the project. “The opportunity was an incredible one,” said Morris.  He was able to assist in the redesigning of the buildings layout for the casino prior to its opening. “It’s been a great eight months,” said Morris.