I saw this story about the Cleveland Gemini getting closed yesterday. Is this the beginning of the end of poker clubs in Ohio, or merely the beginning of the legal showdown to finally determine their legality?
Here's a copy of the story as well as the link (mods -- if inappropriate to copy/paste the entire story, please edit) from cleveland.com
Private Berea club featuring poker folds - for now | cleveland.com
Private Berea club featuring poker folds - for now
By Amanda Garrett, The Plain Dealer
March 21, 2010, 1:49AM
BEREA -- The Gemini Players Club -- a members-only gathering spot for poker, darts and billiards players -- closed abruptly Saturday after Berea officials accused it of breaking state gambling laws by charging an entrance fee.
The club's owner, Jim Marcum, said he expects to reopen within days, contending that the entrance fee is legal and that city officials signed off on it before giving him permits to open the club in January.
Marcum, who said he has charged an entrance fee at his other club in Columbus since 2007 without incident, maintained that Gemini might run afoul of the law if it made money from poker games, but he said it doesn't. All money wagered is returned to the players, he said, and the club survives on membership dues and entrance fees.
Berea Mayor Cyril Kleem said Saturday that he doesn't know what the Berea Planning Commission was thinking at the time permits were issued, "but we want all businesses in the city to follow the law."
On Friday, Berea police delivered a letter from city Law Director Gregory Sponseller to the Gemini club, saying the city had "received information and reports that show that the Gemini Club is profiting from games of chance."
The letter specifically mentions entrance fees.
Any gambling activities at the club after 12:01 a.m. Saturday "will be considered criminal acts by any player, dealer, operator" or any other person involved, the letter said.
Sponseller did not return messages left at his home and offices Saturday. But he told the News Sun newspaper last month that the Gemini club appeared to have found a loophole in state law as long as the club didn't profit from the game.
The dust-up over the Berea club comes a month after Garfield Heights officials prevented an unrelated poker club from opening in that suburb. Officials there said the operators hadn't secured proper zoning for an occupancy permit.
Marcum, who said he is a poker enthusiast himself, declined to say Saturday how many members belong to the club, but indications are it was drawing crowds. Within six weeks of its opening, the Nautica Charity Poker Festival in Cleveland's Flats was raising a mere $20,000 per week, a little more than half its average.
Kleem said Saturday that he was surprised to get only about seven phone calls or e-mails complaining about the Gemini club compared with about 10 compliments.
Among the complaints, however, was a March 8 e-mail from more than 20 charities that have used Nautica poker games to raise money. Kleem said the none of the complaints, including that one, prompted the city's investigation.
"We understood from the beginning this was an unusual business," Kleem said. "We just wanted to see how it operated."
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