When it comes to addictions, I’m at risk with chocolate, Little Debbie snack cakes and diet Dr. Pepper.
But, gambling — with games played in casinos — doesn’t hold as much of an attraction for me as it does for many others.
A recent survey reports 9 percent of Kansans are at risk of developing a gambling problem and 26 percent are affected by uncontrolled gambling of a relative or friend.
I do buy lottery tickets each week, mainly because I started out years ago with a specific set of numbers — a combination of family birth dates — and reached the point where I feared missing a purchase would come back to bite me. I could just see foregoing a day and have my numbers dance up on the screen at the drawing.
As far as casinos, I have been to one only once in the past six or seven years, and that came on Fourth of July weekend when all of the family checked into Great Wolf Lodge for three days of fun, much of which revolved around our six grandkids and the facility’s water park.
There just happens to be a casino within shouting distance of the lodge and the first night son Bob, his wife Melanie, daughter Brenda and I tripped over to the gambling emporium.
Brenda had never tried her hand and asked Bob — who has a time or three — to show her how to play blackjack. Cutting to the chase, she recovered at the very end and came away a $15 winner.
Meanwhile, I meandered through the place until I found a battery of roulette tables.
If I ever were to become taken by casino gambling, it would be with roulette. I once picked up a tidy sum on a cruise ship and have a “system,” which involves covering several numbers with each roll of the ball — really just a slower way to lose whatever amount I decide to risk.
I shied away from roulette, though, when I found the minimum was $15, or maybe it was $25, which in either case would have quickly expended the $50 I decided I could live without.
Consequently, I ended up in the slots. I won a couple of bucks in a quarter machine, and then found my niche in one that demanded just a nickel for each play.
As luck would have it, I hit a $20 jackpot right off the bat, and had the good sense to quit when my luck soured. I ended up $15 ahead, and then blew another dollar on a quarter machine before cashing for a net gain of $14.
Yeah, I’m a high-roller.
When it comes to gambling, I have limitations
