What Should We Think About Gambling?

Gambling was back in the news this week making the front page of the Bangor Daily News on Thursday. Governor LePage is reported as threatening to veto a bill (L.D. 1418) allowing blackjack, poker, and other table games at Hollywood Slots in Bangor.

In 2003, voters approved Hollywood Slots to operate about 1,500 slot machines.
The new bill would allow them to compete with the voter approved casino being built in Oxford County. This bill along with others proposing new racinos in Calais, Biddeford, and Lewiston are making their way through the process in Augusta.

What should we think about this issue? Since these bills require voter referendum, it is a political issue up for debate. Since it is also a moral issue, I urge the churches to actively enter this debate.

Surprisingly, the church is relatively silent on the issue. The church was not always silent. An unknown preacher in second century North Africa preached, "Gambling is like the devil's hunting sphere and those who play the dice are wounded with an irresistible allurement. . . The gambling board is the devil's snare and the enemy's trap which indices greed but in actuality brings utter ruin."

St. Augustine said, "The devil invented gambling." John Calvin caused gambling to be outlawed in Geneva. Martin Luther said, "Money won by gambling is not won without self-seeking and sin."

In the early years of our country, gambling was widespread. However, when the evangelical church raised her voice, the blight was rolled back. By 1884, legal gambling had disappeared from America. It wasn't until 1964 that New Hampshire discovered the lottery as a cash cow, and government sponsored gambling came back into favor. Now 37 states prey on the poorest if their citizens with lotteries, and there are some 500 casinos across the the land. It's time the church raised her voice again.

There are Biblical reasons to oppose gambling. I won't take time to make a full case, but here is a sampling of reasons. George Washington stated, "Gambling is the child of avarice, or greed, the brother of iniquity and the father of mischief." That's Biblical. Jesus said in Luke 12:15, "Take heed and beware of every form of greed, for one's life doesn not consist of the things he possesses."

Furthermore, since gambling seeks to make a killing at the expense of someone else, it violates the second great commandment. Jesus told us that,second only to loving God with all of our heart, soul, and mind, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Quoting Pastor John MacArthur,

"The success of gambling is based on certain sins. If these sins didn't exist, gambling wouldn't either. The sins that support gambling are materialism, greed, discontent, expoitaion, laziness, distrust of God's provision, disdain for the virtues of labor, irresponsible stewardship, and indifference to those in need."

The devastation that gambling does to society should also be a reason for the church to raise her voice. 500 billion dolalrs is legally wagered every year in America. If you add in illegal gambling, the total raises to an estimated one trillion dollars. There are approximately ten million compulsive gamblers, more than the number of alcoholics. With that much money involved and that many compulsive gamblers, trouble is surely brewing. And it is.

By 1995, studies indicated that 95% of Americans gambled, 82% played the lottery, 75% played slot machines, 50% bet on dogs or horses, 44% bet on cards, 34% played bingo, and 74% frequented casinos. We spend more on gambling that on music, movies, and all other entertainment combined, and more than we spend on all professional sports combined. That's only what is spent legally. People earning less than $10,000 annually buy more lottery tickets than any other income groupo.

Atlantic City shows what happens to a city that allows gambling. It's population shrank 20% since 1976. Crime is up 380%. The police force has doubled. Half of the 2,100 businesses have closed. Four of the past six mayors have been indicted for corruption. According to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, casino gambling is a magnet for street crime. 40% of white collar crime is caused by compulsive gambling. We haven't even talked about the devastation that gambling causes in the homes of compulsive gamblers.

God said in Genesis 3:19. "By the seat of your brow you shall eat bread." Proverbs 12:11 says, "He who till his land shall be satisfied with bread, but he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding." God has ordained a method of gaining wealth. It is called work. Gambling offers the fantasy of getting rich without work. It is just that - a fantasy.

Gambling is not good for our community. With gambling, no new wealth is created. Wealth is simply transferred from the hands of the many to the hands of the few. Gambling produces nothing. It adds nothing to the larger economy. Instead, it harms most those who can least afford it. Quoting MacArthur, "It is a plague on our culture (and every culture where it has been legalized), and Christians should not be silent or neutral about it."