A man held up a northwest Corvallis video poker parlor at gunpoint Sunday morning, and police are asking the public for tips to help them catch the robber, described as a white male with a distinctive scar on his face.

The robbery occurred about 10:15 a.m. at Dede's All Lottery Games, 1786 N.W. Ninth St. According to Lt. Dave Henslee, a spokesman for the Corvallis Police Department, the suspect showed the clerk a silver-colored handgun and demanded money.

"He entered the business and demanded money and had her empty out several of the lottery machines," Henslee said. Holding the gun in his left hand, the robber also forced her to empty the cash drawer.

The clerk hit the panic alarm while the robbery was still in progress, but when police arrived a few minutes later, the robber had fled the scene.

The suspect is described as a white man between 25 and 40, about 5 feet, 8 inches tall with a medium build.

He was wearing dark jeans, dark hiking boots and a dark sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over a white-billed baseball cap.

Over the sweatshirt, the clerk told police, the suspect was wearing a plaid flannel shirt or jacket, with either green-and-white or black-and- white checks.

Although the suspect had a dark bandanna pulled over part of his face, the clerk told police the man had a raised scar on the right side of his face, beginning at the temple and running past the right side of his eye.

Witnesses are urged to call the Corvallis Police Department at 766-6924 and ask for Detective Brett Roach.

"Anybody that has information on somebody that matches that description and clothing, we need to know," Henslee said.

Bennett Hall can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.