Road to gambling addiction may begin in childhood

Chuck E. Cheese might not be smiling if he scored a bunch of points on skee ball but only got four tickets. (Image courtesy Chuck E. Cheese Facebook)

Looking back on his childhood, Luke Burbank thinks his fondness for gambling could have begun in front of a skee ball machine.

As a kid, Luke lived for a big win on the Chuck E. Cheese games. The string of tickets would fly out of the machine, hitting the floor and folding up over each other because there were too many to count.

When that happens, “you feel like you beat the system.”

Stifling childhood gambling isn’t the goal of a Lynnwood city ordinance that prevents merit-based ticketing at the local Chuck E. Cheese, but it is a result.

According to the restaurant, the ordinance has made the Lynnwood gaming area the lowest performing in the state.

Now Chuck E. Cheese wants to amend the ordinance, which only allows four tickets to be dispensed per game, no matter what score you earn on skee ball.

While the rule may be aimed at adult gambling, tiny ticket grasping hands are missing out. Luke feels for the kids who will never experience that high.

But his early days earning tickets could have also led to his love of craps, black jack, and poker. “I really think I developed my love of gambling at Chuck E. Cheese.”

Luke took that love with him to the fair where he would breeze by the rides and head for the booth to knock over the milk pitchers. Even though they were rigged, he lived for that “beat the system” moment.

Now, he enjoys Snoqualmie, Emerald Queen, and Muckleshoot casinos when he can’t make it down to Las Vegas.

Dave tells a different tale of his childhood.

He and his dad would find themselves at the fair, walking by the booths with the milk pitchers and the other “seemingly impossible games.” He would spend his dollar at the game booth just to show his dad he was having a good time.

“I hated parting with that dollar.”

Dave would have rather put his dollar in a savings account at the bank and watch it grow – even then.

Maybe gamblers don’t learn it, they’re born with the itch to go “all in” and beat the odds.

The city council in Lynnwood is slated to reconsider the ordinance when it meets Tuesday.