In the murky world of legalized betting parlors, the house gambler is a little-noticed figure.

Dubbed "prop players," they are paid hourly wages by the casinos to sit at tables and keep the games going. Unlike "shills," long used in Las Vegas, prop players in California card rooms must gamble with their own money. They keep their winnings and absorb their losses.

And that's become a problem for George Chang, a former Hollywood Park Casino house gambler who, according to the Internal Revenue Service, owes $8.6 million in back taxes on his winnings.

Chang, who had been paid $40 an hour to play poker for the Inglewood casino, failed to report $11 million in additional taxable income, the IRS claimed in April. It has demanded $4.9 million in back taxes for 1996-2000, plus another $3.7 million in penalties.

Chang's lawyers have filed a petition asking the U.S. Tax Court in Washington to overturn the IRS ruling, claiming the agency erred when it reconstructed his earnings based on a line of credit he had with the casino.

"They contended the money he borrowed was income," said Arthur A. Oshiro, Chang's Long Beach tax attorney, before quickly cutting off a telephone call. "I can't talk about that (case)."

An IRS spokesman said the agency is barred from commenting on pending tax cases. Chang, who left Hollywood Park's employ four-and-a-half years ago, could not be reached for comment.

His petition listed his home as the Crystal Park Casino Hotel in Compton, but the hotel operator said he checked out without leaving a forwarding address.

Keeping games alive

Chang's job--to lure other players to the tables where he was positioned--is not unusual among Los Angeles-area card rooms. "Petitioner's job was to help start games for the casino and to play continuously in games which needed players," Chang's petition said.

Most casinos have prop players, said Vanetta Watkins, an assistant to the president of the Hollywood Park Casino. "The only catch is they have to play with their own money," she said.

Watkins estimated that the 70,000 square foot casino, with 114 tables for various types of poker games and blackjack, has between 70 and 80 prop players on its payroll. Generally, prop players are paid between $15 and $50 per hour and are assigned to tables by casino operators. They are used mostly at poker tables, where as many as nine players at a time can keep the stakes high.