Gambling: Entertaining Pastime or Destructive Vice?
History of Gambling in the United States
Destructive Effects of Gambling
How Gambling Made Inroads into the Culture
Gambling Commission's Recommendations
"But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition."
"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat."
"He becometh poor that dealeth with a slack hand: but the hand of the diligent maketh rich."
"He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding."
"The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute."
"Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase."
"He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich."
"The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not."
"He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches, and he that giveth to the rich, shall surely come to want."
"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's."
The Twentieth Century Fund research group commented, "Gambling's get-rich-quick appeal appears to mock capitalism's core values: Disciplined work habits, thrift, prudence, adherence to routine, and the relationship between effort and reward." These core values of the work ethic are all part of the free enterprise system and are part of the Christian life. Gambling corrupts these values and replaces them with greed and selfishness. Rather than depending upon hard work, gamblers depend instead upon luck and chance.
Jefferson approved of this method compared to taxes because, "it is only a tax on the willing."
"A 7-year-old girl was raped and strangled in a hotel-casino, apparently by a young man who was captured on a surveillance videotape following her into a women's bathroom. Sherrice Iverson's body was discovered inside a locked corner stall in the bathroom at the Primadonna [Casino] in Primm [Nevada], about 40 miles from Las Vegas .... The girl was slain early Sunday after security guards warned her [father] three times that night not to leave her alone in an arcade while [he was] gambling .... [emphasis mine]The surveillance tapes show the girl possibly playing hide-and-seek in the arcade with two men in their late teens or early 20s. At 3:48 a.m. the girl darted into the women's restroom, and one of the men followed her. The man came out alone 25 minutes later .... After the girl's slaying, her father, Leroy Iverson, 57, of Los Angeles, tried to cut a deal with the hotel, said [a] source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. 'He said he wouldn't sue anybody if they would give him $100 to gamble with, free beer, fly his girlfriend in from out of town, and he wanted money for the arcade' for the girl's 14-year-old brother''53
"One of the Las Vegas homicide detectives investigating Sherrice's killing said he was amazed by the number of unsupervised children at the Primadonna hotel arcade .... Based on a viewing of surveillance videos of the arcade .... the officer said he 'counted at least 40 kids in the arcade at 3 in the
morning, and didn't see any adults.'"
The Toronto Sun:
"The late night crowd [at Niagara is]...unmistakably elderly. One woman in her 70s sits at a $1 slot machine. She has her leg up on the chair of another and her cane thrown over a third. She's playing all three machines as fast as she can. I glance at my watch. It's 3:35 a.m. I decide to wait for her and see if she'll talk with me when she leaves. (Casinos forbid reporters to speak to their patrons anywhere on the property.) Eventually, although I wait 'til 5:30 a.m., she outlasts me."The Field Institute's California Poll found that 18 percent of the state's adults bought 71 percent of the tickets. These heavy lottery players (who bought more than 20 tickets in the contest's first 45 days) are "more likely than others to be black, poorer and less educated than the average Californian."
Massachusetts ad: Offered two options for "making millions." "Plan A: Start studying when you're about 7 years old, real hard. Then grow up and get a good job. From then on, get up at dawn every day. Flatter boss. Crush competition ruthlessly. Climb over backs of co-workers. Be the last one to leave every night. Squirrel away every cent. Avoid having a nervous breakdown. Avoid having a premature heart attack. Get a face lift. Do this every day for 30 years, holidays and weekends included. By the time you're ready to retire you should have your money." Or "Plan B: Play the lottery."
"People will spend a tremendous amount of money in casinos, money that they would normally spend on buying a refrigerator or a new car. Local business will suffer because they'll lose customer dollars to the casinos."
One historian wrote, [quoted by Kerby Anderson] "If history teaches us anything, a study of over 1300 legal lotteries held in the United States proves...they cost more than they brought in if their total impact on society is reckoned." From Kerby Anderson, Probe Ministries
Destination gambling is when a person budgets a certain amount of money to "gamble away" either on vacation or possibly on a weekly basis. They do not gamble more than their budgeted amount. They consider this money to be like spending money on any other hobby. One person "blows" money on cars or fishing, while this person "blows" his gambling.
Whether it is a sin could be debated, but it is definitely unwise. It is like borrowing. The Bible never specifically says borrowing is a sin, but it does give warnings against it. The same is true of any type of gambling. Consider the following problems with destination gambling.
First, the gross income statistics for legalized gambling are much higher than the net income. Consider state lotteries as one example. Although about half the states have lotteries and the figures vary from state to state, we can work with some average figures. Generally, the cost of management, advertising, and promotion is approximately 60 cents of each dollar. In other words, for every dollar raised in a lottery, only 40 cents goes to the state budget. By contrast, direct taxation of the citizens only costs about 1 cent on the dollar. So for every dollar raised by taxes, 99 cents goes to the state budget.
Second, gambling adversely affects a state economy. Legalized gambling depresses businesses because it diverts money that could have been spent in the capital economy into gambling which does not stimulate the economy. Boarded-up businesses surrounding casinos are a visible reminder of this, but the effect on the entire economy is even more devastating than may be at first apparent. Money that could be invested, loaned, and recycled through the economy is instead risked in a legalized gambling scheme. Legalized gambling siphons off a lot of money from the economy. More money is wagered on gambling than is spent on elementary and secondary education ($286 billion versus $213 billion in 1990). Historian John Ezel concludes in his book, Fortune's Merry Wheel, "If history teaches us anything, a study of over 1300 legal lotteries held in the United States proves...they cost more than they brought in if their total impact on society is reckoned." Taken from Kerby Anderson, Probe Ministries
"Except for a few hundred people, many of whom boast only a trace of Indian blood, most American Indians haven't gained a penny."
"About once a month on average, a hapless millionaire winner of one of the 37 state lotteries goes bust and files for bankruptcy, experts say. That's the rags-to-rags fate of about one-third of all winners."
One of the standard cliches used by proponents of legalized gambling is that if we institute legal gambling, we will drive out illegal gambling. This argument makes a number of faulty assumptions. First, it assumes that people are going to gamble anyway; thus, the state might as well get a piece of the action. Second, it assumes that given the choice, people would rather gamble in a state-sponsored program because it will be regulated. The state, the argument goes, will make sure that the program is fair and that each participant has an equal chance of winning. Third, it assumes that if the state enters the gambling arena, it will drive out illegal gambling because it will be a more efficient competitor for gamblers' dollars.
The arguments seem sound, but they are not. Although some people do gamble illegally, most citizens do not. Legalized gambling, therefore, entices people to gamble who normally would not gamble at all.
Second, legal gambling does not drive out illegal gambling. If anything, just the opposite is true. As legalized gambling comes into a state, it provides additional momentum for illegal gambling. The Organized Crime Section of the Department of Justice found that "the rate of illegal gambling in those states which have some legalized form of gambling was three times as high as those states where there was not a legalized form of gambling." And one national review found that,
In states with different numbers of games, participation rates increase steadily and sharply as the number of legal types of gambling increases. Social betting more than doubles from 35 percent in states with no legal games to 72 percent in states with three legal types; the illegal gambling rate more than doubles from nine percent to 22 percent; and commercial gambling increases by 43 percent, from 24 to 67 percent.
Legalized gambling in various states has not been a competitor to, but rather has become a stimulator of illegal gambling.
The reasons for the growth of illegal gambling in areas where legalized gambling exists are simple. First, organized crime syndicates often use the free publicity of state lotteries and pari-mutuel betting to run their own numbers games. The state actually saves them money by providing publicity for events involving gambling. Second, many gamblers would rather bet illegally than legally. When they work with a bookie, they can bet on credit and don't have to report their winnings to the government. These are at least two things they can't do if they bet on state-sponsored games, and this explains why illegal gambling thrives in states with legalized gambling.