Some years ago, the leaders of a major religion made this following statement:

“There can be no question about the moral ramifications of gambling. As it has in the past, The Church stands opposed to gambling, including government-sponsored lotteries.

“Public lotteries are advocated as a means of relieving the burden of taxation. It has been clearly demonstrated, however, that all too often lotteries only add to the problems of the financially disadvantaged by taking money from them and giving nothing of value in return. The poor and the elderly become victims of the inducements that are held out to purchase lottery tickets on the remote chance of winning a substantial prize.”

This statement condemns gambling from two points of view. In religious terms, it is morally wrong. In public policy terms, it is politically unwise. I will reflect both on these points of view. First, gambling as a moral evil.

Jesus Christ taught His disciples to give and went on to teach them to sacrifice all that they have in service to Him and to their fellowmen. Satan, the adversary, on the other hand teaches men to take; forcibly if necessary, deviously if feasible, continuously if possible. Whatever encourages men to take from one another without giving value in return serves the cause of Satan.

Gambling is a game of chance that takes without giving value in return. Gambling puts money or other things of value into a pool and then redistributes it on the basis of a roll of the dice, a spin of the wheel, or a drawing of a number. Nothing of value is produced in the process.

What does gambling do to its participants? The attitude of taking something from someone else in order to enhance our own position, the essence of gambling leads us away from the giving path of Christ and toward the taking path of the adversary. The act of taking or trying to take something from someone else without giving value in return is destructive of spiritual sensitivities.

Many other Christian leaders have branded gambling as a moral evil because it leads its participants away from the behaviour and attitudes taught by Jesus Christ. A Methodist Minister, the Reverend Lycurgas M. Starkey, Jr., asked this question: “Can a Christian honestly use his gifts in gambling when his winnings are gained at the expense of another’s losing?” He answered his question as follows:

“The good Christian’s love of neighbour will stand against every practice which hinders the growth of the human spirit toward the likeness of Christ or which breaks down the structures of justice in society. The Christian will himself refrain from gambling and from publicly endorsing it in any form, realising that gambling is detrimental to the purpose of life as revealed in Jesus Christ.”

Many Christian, Jewish and Islamic sermons testify that greed and covetousness are contrary to God’s will for His children. Gambling promotes these evils. Ten times that many sermons elaborate the Saviour’s Golden Rule. Gambling, the philosophy and practice of taking, is the polar opposite of the Golden Rule.

Similar to many other sins, a national sponsored lottery is sugar-coated with the phony sweetness of a good cause. We hear proposals to use state-sponsored gambling as a solution to financial crises in state government. These proposals invite us to focus on the desirability of additional funding and of needed relief for hard-pressed taxpayers and to ignore the costs of gambling. There are moral costs to the participants, and there are also financial costs in this means of raising money.

Gambling tends to corrupt its participants. Its philosophy of something for nothing undermines the virtues of work, industry, thrift and service to others. The seductive lure of a huge possible windfall for a small “investment” encourages participants to gamble with funds needed for other purposes, even the basics of food and housing. Gamblers commonly deprive themselves, they often impoverish their families, and they sometimes steal from others to finance their indulgence. We are all familiar with cases in which trusted employees have stolen from their employers, bringing tragedy upon themselves and their families. All too often this ruinous sequence is traceable to a desperate attempt to pay gambling debts or to finance further indulgence.

Looking at the foregoing it can clearly be summarised that gambling is a moral evil for the following five reasons: First, it weakens the ethic of work and promotes the idea of something for nothing. Second, it promotes greed and covetousness and the spirited taking from one’s neigbour. Third, it turns to corrupt the participants to often be associated with embezzlement, drunkenness and other devices. Fourth, it is habit forming and always a vicious and unprofitable waste of time. Fifth and the most important point, it is destructive of spirituality and causes the participants to lose the spirit of the Lord.

These should be sufficient reason for all to abstain from gambling in all of its forms. Gambling only benefits its promoters and takes away not only money but the peace of mind of 99 per cent of its participants. By all means let’s avoid gambling and speak against it.

I conclude my reflections of the moral evils of gambling with these words of Richard L. Evans:

“The spirit of gambling is a progressive thing. Usually it begins modestly; and then, like many other hazardous habits, it often grows beyond control. At best it wastes time and produces nothing. At worst it becomes a ruinous obsession and fosters false living by encouraging the futile belief that we can continually get something for nothing.”

Gambling is obviously an effective instrument for opposing the work of God. No wonder the prophets have opposed it vigorously.

• Next week Gambling: Politically
Unwise (Part 2)

By Samuel Enos Eghan