Posted on 05/13/2011 12:27:10 PM PDT by massmike
A San Diego mother is suing Chuck E. Cheese, the favorite pizza chain of kids across the nation, accusing the restaurant of illegal gambling. Denise Keller, mother of two daughters, says Chuck E. Cheese has replaced its traditional games of skee-ball and whack-a-mole with machines that resemble slot machines, Capitol Weekly reported. The lawsuit says that “many games found at Chuck E. Cheese’s restaurants are illegal gambling devices that require little or no skill and are predominantly games of chance, much like a roulette wheel,” according to the paper. Keller’s attorney, Eric Benink, said the games have flashing lights and bright colors just like slot machines. "There was no fun involved in the game other than an opportunity to win a prize," he told Capitol Weekly. “It’s just pure random luck in terms of spinning out a result. That, we believe, is a slot machine, as California penal code spells out.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I agree with her... but it’s stupid to sue. Just don’t go. We don’t.
If it puts CEC out of business, that would be a good thing. Places are nothing but germ factories.
Keller’s attorney, Eric Benink, should be shot, or at least disbarred and forced to work at Chuck E. Cheese for minimum wage.
The machines do not spit out money when the kids win. They spit out Chuck E. Cheese tokens that can only be used in their stores.
There’s no reason to say this is gambling.
Then don’t take them there. There are plenty of real pizza places out there to take them to.
Chuckies has terrible pizza and always has. A founder of a video game company back in the 80s was forthright about it. They started Chuck E Cheese as a way to draw kids into playing their video games; the pizza was crap but that was not the point of the place.
Most states have specific exemptions from gambling statutes for the type of ticket/prise operation Chuck-e’s runs.
The rides are usually kiddie type rides. The show is the animatronic video presentation.
The "games" will vary from store to store. Games that give out tickets are called redemption games. There are games that don't give out tickets...these of course are non-redemption games.
Each store has a mix of redemption and non-redemption games. The redemption games vary widely. Some give a fixed number of tickets and do have a high element of skill. Some give a variable number of tickets and have a high element of skill. Some give a fixed or variable number of tickets and don't require much skill. On some games the payouts are programmable. On others they're not.
The "payout" is paper tickets that can be redeemed for prizes. Or you can purchase prizes straight up...or a combo.
I would say that the person suing is looking to make a buck off Chuck....
I take exception to that. Anyplace that kids congregate is going to be a "germ factory". I would bet that the cleanliness of a typical Chuck E. Cheese store is thousands, if not millions, of times higher than the cleanliness of a typical classroom or lunchroom at a school.
So let's shut down schools, pre-schools and church nursery too because they're all "germ factories".
I'd say that's a safe "bet"!
Under what theory of law does this woman have an actionable complaint here?
Is this going to be dismissed in a summary judgement for the defendant?
It's not that bad. Dough is made daily. Ingredients are fresh. We get our produce from a farm that delivers weekly. It's more of a perception issue. Nonetheless Chuck E. Cheese has started a new pizza recipe/baking process that is being rolled out to stores in order to combat the perception.
Ms. Keller should sue the state of California for allowing her daughters (3 and 5 yrs) to 1) have jobs to earn money to spend at CEC and 2) to have a license to drive to CEC. Oh wait...
I have often made the gambling comparison....half jokingly. Some of the games of chance are ‘progressive’, which means the payout gets larger each time a player loses.
This is exactly the same concept used in many casino games of chance.
No it’s that bad. The dough is gummie, the cheese is in name alone, fresh bad ingredients don’t make good pizza.
Well, as far as cleanliness, I know from experience that the plastic balls the kids play in always smells like urine. I’m sure they try to clean up and keep it that way, but dealing with so many kids in and out all day, I’m sure it’s a losing battle.
To each their own. The new pizza is 100% real mozzarella. The new crust has been reformulated and will be cooked on screens instead of pans so the "gummy", if that's your perception, is gone. The dough is mixed and rolled out daily and I have the machines to prove it!
Chuck E. Cheese isn't gourmet pizza by any means but it's also not the main draw of a typical Chuck E. Cheese store either.
When was the last time you were in a store? I don't think there are any of those plastic ball things at any Chuck E. Cheese store and haven't been for at least maybe 5 to 10 years though I'm not sure of the exact time frame.
Notice the first two improvements you mention go straight at the problems I mentioned, and those criticisms weren’t just my perception, they were pretty well known as the CEC problem. Making the gummy crust a real crust and replacing that horrid fake cheese with 100% real mozzarella. It’s good that they’re catching up with the improved American pallet, now if only Peter Piper and Little Caesars (the mass market pizzas that kept CEC from being the worst) would do the same.
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