Gambling: Is It Right or Wrong?

1. Gambling: Is It Right or Wrong?

2. Gambling Defined: • The American Heritage Dictionary: “1. a. To bet money on the outcome of a game, contest, or other event. b. To play a game of chance for money or other stakes. 2. To take a risk in the hope of gaining an advantage; speculate. -- tr. 1. To put up in gambling; to wager. 2. To expose to hazard; to risk. -- n. 1. A bet, wager, or other gambling venture. 2. An act or undertaking of uncertain outcome; a risk....

3. Gambling Defined: • Webster’s New International Dictionary: “to play a game for money or other stake...hence: to stake money or any other thing of value upon an uncertain event; to hazard; wager.

4. Gambling Defined: • R. Creighton Buck: “In its more limited sense it means an effort to gain something of value by risking the loss of something on a matter of chance. Gambling appeals to two basic traits of human nature, the desire for gain and the exhilarating thrill of uncertainty.” (“Gaming and Gambling,” Vol. 10, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM)

5. Three Essential Features to Gambling: • There is a “PAY OFF” a prize of money or merchandise. • There is a “CHANCE” the awarding of the pay-off must be based on a chance. • There is a “WAGER” The eligibility for the prize is dependent on the payment or the agreement to pay the players involved.

6. Gambling is more than taking a risk, it is placing a wager on a risk.

7. Gambling is placing a wager on a risk. • Contrive or manufacture a risk • The winner is determined by chance or luck and not skill • Little control over the circumstances

8. Gambling is placing a wager on a risk. • It is a risk that most times involves little physical effort. • It is a risk that involves a disproportionate return. • It is a risk that we seek to win at the expense of others. • Nothing of value is being produced.

9. Many activities involve a risk but are not gambling: • Farming is not the same thing as gambling. • Investing in the stock market is not gambling. • Buying insurance is not gambling. • Winning a sweepstakes is not the same as gambling.

10. Gambling Consist of Things Like: • Raffles • Lotteries • Betting pools • Playing card games for money • Playing dice for money • Slot machines • Betting on horse races, dog races, ball games, elections, etc. • Playing bingo for money • Playing Bunko for money • Casino games • Etc.

11. “Gambler’s Anonymous Booklet”: “Any betting or wagering, whether for money or not, no matter how slight or insignificant, where the outcome is uncertain or depends upon chance or ‘skill,’ constitutes gambling.” (Quoted in Bob Buchanon, Those Impossible Years, p. 38)

12. Stafford North: “Gambling is the act of risking what is yours in order to get what belongs to another with nothing given in return.” (Quoted in Stan Caldwell, “Gambling,” The Reminder, Nov. 19, 1989, 3:10:2)

13. IS GAMBLING WRONG? • Gambling is wrong if it is motivated by covetousness.

14. Epithumeo • Thayer: “prop. to keep the thumos turned upon a thing, hence [cf. our to set one’s heart upon] to have a desire for, long for; absol. to desire [A.V. lust], Jas. iv. 2; to lust after, covet, of those who seek things forbidden....” • Vine: “to fix the desire upon (epi, upon, used intensively, thumos, passion), whether things good or bad; hence, to long for, lust after, covet....”

15. Epithumia • BAGD: “desire, longing, craving. 1. as a neutral term, as predom. in secular Gk.... 2. in a good sense....have a longing for someth....eagerly desire.... 3. in a bad sense as a desire for someth. forbidden… • Thayer: “desire, craving, longing....spec. desire for what is forbidden, lust… • Vine: “a desire, craving, longing, mostly of evil desires, frequently translated ‘lust,’…

16. Pleonexia • BAGD: “greediness, insatiableness, avarice, covetousness, lit. ‘a desire to have more’....” • Thayer: “greedy desire to have more, covetousness, avarice....plur. various modes in which covetousness shows itself, covetings....” • Vine: “covetousness, lit., a desire to have more (pleon, more, echo, to have), always in a bad sense....”

17. Is Gambling Wrong? • Gambling is wrong if it is motivated by covetousness. • Gambling is wrong if it results in slothfulness and laziness. • Gambling is wrong if it violates the law of love. • Gambling is wrong if it makes you an unfaithful steward of God’s blessings.

18. IS GAMBLING WRONG? • Gambling is wrong if it enslaves you to it. • Gambling is wrong if it harms your influence and example as a Christian.

19. IS GAMBLING WRONG? • Gambling is wrong if it enslaves you to it. • Gambling is wrong if it harms your influence and example as a Christian. • Gambling is wrong if it bears bad fruit. • Gambling is wrong if it is questionable in your own mind.

20. IS GAMBLING WRONG? • Gambling is wrong if it takes you down the road to sin. • Gambling is wrong is it violates the laws of the land.

21. Arguments for Gambling • The Bible does not say, “Thou shall not gamble” • “Why not gamble, all of life is a gamble.” • Certain kinds of gambling are legal. • “The money is used for a good cause.”

22. Arguments for Gambling • “Gambling adds excitement to the game.” • “Those who gamble are willing participants.” • “God’s people cast lots in the Bible.” • “Gambling is all right as long as the stakes are small and no one gets hurt.” • “I only gamble in moderation.”