While in New Hampshire for the lectures last month we kept hearing about the “casino election” in Maine. While there we saw countless yard signs saying “No Casinos”, so we asked the locals about it. Gambling interests had succeeded in getting casino gambling on the ballot. One Maine businessman, concerned about the problems that accompany gambling, had the above words on a large sign at his place of business.

Last week we were happy to learn that the attempt had failed, and casinos will not be in Maine, but doesn’t this sound a bit familiar to us? “More jobs…lower taxes…etc.” The people in Maine didn’t buy it, for economic reasons, and Christians should oppose any and all forms of gambling for biblical reasons.

Lottery, Gambling Defined
Economist Arthur A. Smith:

Gambling is the deliberate creation of a risk of a kind not inherent in or necessary to the functioning of an economic society.

Encyclopedia Americana defines it:

A lottery is a public gambling scheme by which, for a valuable consideration, one may by favor of the lot obtain a prize of a value superior to the amount or value of that which is risked.

However you define it, gambling is a means of taking the possessions of another without rendering its equivalent return, either in service or value. In most systems of justice, that is called “stealing.” But call it a raffle, and by magic it becomes honorable?

Isn’t life a gamble?
Yes, there are risks inherent in life itself. But gambling is the “creation of risks,” risks that are unnecessary to the supplying of everyday goods, risks that do not produce the staples of life and health. Sure, the farmer takes a risk when he sows his seed in the field, and investing money is a risk. But neither is an unnecessary risk, for the farmer provides food, while stockholders and securities provide capital needed for financing industry and business.

Insurance policies create no new risks, but spread the universal risks of illness, injury or death. Gambling is more than risk-taking. Gambling is stealing as sure as a duel is murder.

Is gambling OK for Christians?
Being a Christian involves some choices that are not easy, but this should be one of the easier ones.

Note the following:

1. The Bible teaches a principle of honesty, of fair play, not exploiting the weaknesses of others. But fair play and honesty do not describe lotteries in America. Statistics bear out the fact that it is the poor who engage in and lose the most in the lottery. [See 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, Ephesians 4:27-28, Jeremiah 22:13.]
   
   
2. We often speak of the “golden rule,” and we read it in Matthew 7:12. But I know of no one who would suggest that gambling has respect for that principle. How can we, by venture or deception, take that which we could not obtain by honest labor or exchange?
   
   
3. The gambling interests in our nation operate in the dark areas of society. Mark Twain once wrote, “Gamblers, thieves and bootleggers are lumped together, not because of Mark Twain, but because they fit together.” How can a Christian, willingly or otherwise, get involved with the interests of organized crime? Yes, that’s exactly who runs most gambling enterprises, and the lotteries reflect the philosophies and methods of those same people.
   
   
4. Gambling thrives on a principle of what the Bible calls “covetousness.” Thayer defines it as a “compulsive desire to have more.” (See Colossians 3:5.) No Christian would want to be a parasite, living off the productive work of others. It is right to earn money, find money, or inherit money, but it’s never right to steal money.
   
   
5. When God gives instructions on the use of money and possessions, He says we must be good “stewards” of them. This means we must take care to use our possessions in a way that is in harmony with our commitment to Christ. All we have is ours only as a stewardship, held in trust for the Lord, 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, 10:23-24, Psalm 24:1. That old “something for nothing” appeal is strong, but Christians must reject it.
   

Even today, when standards of behavior are being lowered daily, gambling is limited by law, and is illegal in many places. That should indicate that our society has seen enough evidence of gambling’s evil that it has been restricted. Senate committees have for years recorded the relationship between gambling and organized crime in America.

If you think it is for a “good cause,” make a contribution to that cause. Your influence as a Christian will be broadened. But leave the lottery and the raffle alone. Gambling would have been bad for Maine, and will never be a good thing for us.

Carl B. Garner