Vote Expected Tuesday for Charitable Gaming at Blockbuster Video Site

UPDATED April 2, 3:59 p.m.

Avon Lake Planning Commission will not be voting on whether to issue PokerTek/Avon Lake Charity Festival Room for a Conditional Use Permit to operate at 32814 Walker Road, the location formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video in Towne Center.

The item has been removed from the Tuesday, April 2 monthly Planning Commission meeting agenda.

PokerTek, a company that supplies fully automated gaming machines, approached the city in January. Company representatives gave a presentation to the city’s Economic Development Committee and Economic Development Advisory Board last month and addressed city council at the Jan. 17 meeting.

“The group came to us to see if it’s viable,” Avon Lake Mayor Greg Zilka said in January. “Mr. Kopf and his group looked on it somewhat skeptically, but he saw it as putting cars into the parking lot.”

PokerTek already operates an eastside operation in Willoughby Hills. PokerTek  representative David Harbarger, of Fifth Street Entertainment in Cleveland, said Nautica could be described as a “prototype” for his company.  

“You need to have charities signed up,” Harbarger previously said, adding it was not a sweepstakes or Internet café, the latter of which is under legal review in Ohio.

Charities can host the events for a four to five-day festival, receiving the bulk of the net proceeds. Anyone in the public, over the age of 21, can enter the café to play.

If Planning Commission approves the plans, the request will move forward to City Council for required approval.

Click here to read the original article on Avon-Avon Lake Patch.