Lately in this page I have touched on a few ethical topics to remind us of the distinctive Christian stance in areas where the world might think differently. Another important issue is gambling. The traditional stance of most Bible-believing Christians is: “Don’t!”
I suspect that most of us can see how destructive gambling is. NSW has the highest concentration of poker machines in the world. Thousands of people across our state are in the grip of a terrible addiction to these devices. While others could truthfully say that they are not addicted, and that their “flutter” on a lottery ticket or a horse is just a bit of fun, is it really that much fun to enjoy the fantasy of winning until the results come in, and… usually… we’ve lost!?
Gambling is not productive. It causes people to waste energy pursuing a gain at someone else’s expense. As a result, it is not loving toward our neighbour. It is also not loving toward God, who wisely provides us with what we need (even if that is often less than what we want!). Gambling is basically an institutionalised version of breaking the tenth commandment, not to covet. The Bible says to “flee idolatry”, which means to run as hard as possible in the opposite direction.
For these reasons, my suggestion is not to go near any form of gambling, even for harmless fun. Better to spend our time and energy seeking God’s provision for us through prayer and loving, productive work. Pray for those who are caught in a gambling problem. And pray for our government to stand up to gambling businesses which profit from harming people.