Hotel to open at Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens

Gamblers testing their luck at the Bicycle Casino in Bell Gardens will soon have the option of booking a room for the night.

The casino, known for its 185 tables of poker and other card games, said it is opening a seven-story, 99-room hotel next to the casino on Dec. 1.

The hotel will include a fitness center, an outdoor pool deck, a spa and sauna, plus 9,000 square feet of meeting space for conventions or banquets. The hotel restaurant, the Bike Brewery, will feature 28 beer taps.

The $50-million hotel has been under construction since 2013 on land previously used for parking.

The Bicycle Casino has had a long and colorful history in Bell Gardens. The federal government took over part ownership of the casino in 1991 after a jury found that $12 million of the $22 million used in its construction came from Florida drug smugglers.

Five years later, the federal government sold its share of the casino to a large British gambling company. The casino is now privately owned by the Bicycle Hotel & Casino LLC.

hugo.martin@latimes.com Twitter: @hugomartin