In our neo-pagan, relativistic, North American society gambling has become an increasingly socially acceptable form of entertainment. Even Christians are not immune from the temptation to gamble. According to an Angus Reid poll, 50 per­cent of all regular churchgoers in Canada gamble at least once a month. Poll ana­lyst Don Posterski notes that regular attenders of more conservative or evangelical churches are less likely to gamble, but 20 percent still gamble monthly.

Gambling is seen as a quick way to gain wealth with­out having to work for it. Its proponents invariably seek to focus our attention on the mind-boggling sums of money that can be won. But this dazzling megabucks potential is motivated by greed. Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-81) called gamblers monks of greed, dedicated wholly to its service, with the green baize tables for an altar on which to set out the sacrificial offer­ings of coins and banknotes. Evangelical theologian Kenneth S. Kantzer defines gambling as "an artificially contrived risk, taken for self­ish gain at another's expense, with no constructive product as its goal."

Gamblers have gone to extremes in their hope to win. CBC news reported that man went to an Ontario casi­no wearing diapers, afraid to lose a chance to win if he leaves to go to the washroom. This fear is common. The 18^th-century Lord Sandwich is supposed to have invented "sandwiches" so that he would not have to get up from the gaming-table for a meal.

History of Gambling⤒🔗

Gambling is an ancient destructive vice. Dice have been found in Egypt dating thousands of years before Christ. Ancient Brahman hymns indicate that great herds of cattle, in what is now India, were won or lost 1,500 years before Christ on the outcome of chariot races. Gaming tables have been dis­covered in the ruins of Pompeii; a western Italian city destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Ancient Rome had a great passion for gambling. The Roman satirist Juvenal (60­140 AD) said that it was not a purse that men brought to the gambling tables; it was a treasure chest. The emperor Nero played for high stakes with dice. The Roman histori­an Tacitus (56-120 AD) noted that gambling was very com­mon among the tribes of Germany.

The British are noted for their passion for gambling. Playing cards were intro­duced in the 15^th century and were early used for gambling by all classes in the towns. By the 18^th century, upper-class society gambled exten­sively, and for high stakes. The government itself (till 1826) encouraged gambling through national lotteries. Sir John Bland, M.P., (d.1755), squandered his entire fortune at Hazard in a night's play. The dramatist and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751­-1816) ruined his finances by heavy gambling. Sports, espeliars acing, has always had gambling as one of its main attractions. In the 18^th century, cricket with its heavy betting and wild parti­sanship drew great crowds. In our century, the most popular of all forms of gambling is the football pool.

The United States began as a gambling nation. George Washington, the first US president declared, "Gamb­ling is the child of avarice, the brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief." But he was not consequent as he kept a full diary of his own winnings and losses at the card table. It was not until the end of 1910 that American reformers succeeded in ban­ning nearly all forms of gam­bling. But since 1978, it has made a breathtakingly rapid comeback. Christianity Today (May 18, 1998) reports that in 1997 Americans legally wagered more than $550 bil­lion, which is more than three times the revenues of General Motors, the largest corporation in the US.

Government Sponsored←⤒🔗

In an age of the "nanny" state, governments have become heavily involved in sponsoring gambling to finance projects or reduce their debts. They claim that whatever form of gambling they legitimize, it will reduce the citizen's tax load. But this argument is spurious at best. For example, after more than half a century of casino revenue, the state of Nevada still finds it necessary to levy a 5 percent sales tax on all retail services. Tom Watson comments, "The citizens of lottery states find they pay as much in taxes as they ever did; their state just spends more."

Gambling has become Canada's fastest growing gov­ernment-sponsored industry. Governments have become addicted to profits from gambling schemes. They debase and demoralize their citizens for their own financial gain. Government need for cash during the 1976 Olympic Games and the economic recession of the early 1990s led to changed attitudes. Once a criminal offence, gambling is now a provincial regulated matter. Manitoba allowed the first commercial casino in 1989. Lotto-Quebec, the provincial lottery compa­ny that owns the Montreal casino, originally estimated its annual net profit at $50 million from a daily atten­dance of 5,000. But Maclean's magazine (May 30, 1994) reported that crowds were more than twice that size — and revenues nearly tripled. In 1995 Canada's provincial and territorial gov­ernments took in more than $4.5 billion from lotteries, casinos and the one arm ban­dit video-lottery terminals (VLTs).

The amount bet on every form of gambling in Ontario is staggering. In 1995-96, Break-Open tickets sucked $1 billion out of Ontario pockets. In 1997, gambling revenues from casinos were up 64 per cent to $329 mil­lion. (These figures represent 20 per cent of the total take. For example, this means that the total money spent in casi­nos in Ontario alone in 1997 was $1.65 billion.) The new casino set up in Windsor in 1995, a native-run facility called Casino Rama in Orillia, and a government-run facility in Niagara Falls contributed their millions to government revenue. For example, on opening night in Niagara Falls in December 1996, 29,000 people arrived to try their "luck." Anti-gam­bling groups want to make gambling an issue during the next provincial election. Alberta receives a higher percentage of revenues from gambling than any other province. Gross receipts from ticket lot­teries, VLTs, and casino gaming terminals or slot machines, totaled $2.1 billion for 1995-96. The average Albertan puts more money — $ 214 per year into gambling than any other Canadian. And then to think that until 30 years ago government involvement in gambling was not heard of as lotteries and casinos were illegal in Canada. And it wasn't until 1985 slot machines and VLTs began to gain government approval.

Lotteries←⤒🔗

A popular form of gambling is the lottery. It never ceases to amaze me that the busiest place in a shopping mall is the booth where lottery tick­ets are sold. Governments consider lotteries a great source of revenue at a time when people are psychologi­cally set for a "tax rebellion."

Lotteries have a long histo­ry. In 1609 the Dutch city Gouda used lotteries to raise funds for its hospital and old age home. The British gov­ernment raised regularly vast sums by popular lotteries: even the building of the Westminster Bridge (1736) and the founding of the British Museum (1753) were financed chiefly by this means. In early American history, colonial legislatures authorized frequent lotteries to raise funds for the paving of streets and harbours. Even churches were erected throughout the American colonies — paid for or subsi­dized by lottery profits. In 1776 the First Continental Congress sold lottery tickets to finance the Revolution.

But lotteries are not a pain­less way to increase govern­ment revenues. They are grossly unfair. They exploit those who are particularly vulnerable to the promise of a sudden financial windfall. Dave Toycen, head of World Vision Canada, says that studies show that most lottery money comes from the poor. A Texas Baptist official observed, "A lottery is the sale of an illusion to poor people who view it as the only possibility for breaking out of the cycle of poverty they live in."

Governments exploit the impact of a few vivid lottery winners. Their advertise­ments seduce the public into perceiving a lottery ticket as having greater earnings potential than it actually does. Largely on account of government-sponsored pro­motions, Canadians now believe that gambling is largely harmless, and certain­ly not immoral enough to warrant prohibition. The gov­ernment ads never show the testimony of losers who lost their proverbial shirt in their attempt to win. The odds against winning are astro­nomical. Some have figured that a person is 3.5 times more likely to be killed by lightning and five times more likely to be eaten by a shark than he is to win a govern­ment lottery jackpot!

Opposition to lotteries has not been wanting. The Puritans already condemned the running of private lotter­ies, for "though this or that par­ticular man may be a gainer, yet it would puzzle any man to tell what necessary or con­venient uses of humane soci­ety, where the lottery is opened, are at all served."

Social Impact←⤒🔗

Social acceptance of gam­bling has resulted in tragical­ly poverty-destroyed families and individuals by gamblers who have become obsessed with their game of chance, nothing else and no other people matter any more. James Forrest, Alberta Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, com­mented that "Gambling is the last business a government should be involved in ... The government can't protect people from themselves, but at the same time they should­n't be offering the tempta­tion."

Compulsive gamblers, a largely anonymous lot, may resort to stealing in order to get betting money. They live a cloistered inner life and lie to guard their secret addic­tion. They are always opti­mistic and never seem to learn from losing. They can't stop while winning. They go deeply in debt to keep up with their habit. A 1997 Alberta study found that more than a third of the province's gambling revenues came from the 5 percent of the population who are prob­lem gamblers. Studies show that those most at risk of becoming addicted to gam­bling are youth, native people and lower-middle class citi­zens who believe that gam­bling provides a shortcut to solve their economic prob­lems and provides a financial­ly secure future. The conse­quences of such foolhardy thinking? Job loss, strained family relations, broken marriages, and suicides are com­mon. Given a choice some women have said that they would rather see their hus­bands drink than gamble.

Gamblers Anonymous (GA) was founded to help gamblers overcome their addiction. Requirement for membership is the desire to stop gambling. GA has also a Gam-Anon for wives of gam­blers to help them to under­stand their husbands' prob­lem and how to help them. A testimony given at a Gambler's Anonymous meet­ing says it all: "We talk about those awful years that are behind us, of borrowing money and stealing and embezzling, of living day by day behind a facade. But what we really think about is this — we think of the love we lost and the love we were unable to find, and the love we were unable to give."

Christian View←⤒🔗

The Biblical view of work and stewardship rules out gambling. We are stewards of the money entrusted to us and are responsible to God for the way we handle it. Gambling is an effort to gain money without pain, earnings without effort, a transfer of unearned wealth. It diverts love due to God to a god of one's own making. It is idola­try, the worship of Mammon, a rival of God (Eph. 5:5). Dr. Abraham Kuyper observed that gambling is rooted in superstition. He wrote that gambling and similar types of games encourage belief in the effect of a mysterious fate on our lives. Gambling encourages the belief that chance determines the results. This goes against the Biblical teaching that God alone governs the affairs of people and nations. In other words, a gambler denies the providence of God. (cf. Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A 27)

Canada's Churches←⤒🔗

Although Christian opposi­tion to gambling has not been consistent, church bodies have voiced their protest. In 1997, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) published a paper entitled Gambling: A Bad Bet, which sharply criticizes gambling's negative impact on society, on families, the economy, and denounces the depend­ency of government, charities and community groups on gambling as a source of revenue. The paper declares gambling an unstewardly use of God-given gifts. It also declares the gambling habit as "an insidious form of evil which takes advantage of the poor and disadvantaged and undermines a healthy and just society." It also chides Christians who fail to see the "dark spiritual dynamic behind gambling." It calls upon Christians to become "passionately opposed" to gambling.

The United Church of Canada, the nation's most liberal mainline Protestant denomination, has called for a federal inquiry into the social, economic, and legal impact of gambling. But to convince governments to give up their quick and sure source of revenue is a tough assignment. Bonnie Greene, program director of the Division of Mission in Canada of the United Church, points out that "the governments have bellied up to the bar and have been snookered into believing that this is a way to raise easy money." The bishop of a Roman Catholic diocese in northern Canada even banned bingo in his jurisdic­tion when he realized that some people were spending their grocery money on gam­bling. In Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, CRC pastor Rev. Phil Stel led the success­ful movement for the removal of the VLTs from the town. He said that the anti-gambling effort has "cer­tainly gone far beyond our expectations." Because of the success of the anti-gambling movement, some churches in Alberta had to do some seri­ous soul searching. While churches and ministerial associations were demanding the removal of VLTs, some were at the same time taking millions of dollars from the Alberta Gaming Commission for various projects in their parishes. Premier Ralph Klein called this hypocritical. How can one protest while taking funds? Anglican bish­op Barry Curtis rightly said, "We can't have it both ways. If we receive (VLT and gam­bling) money, we will have to remain absolutely mute."

In 1997, Jim Wallace, pastor of South Calgary Community Church, listed more than 100 churches which had received a combined total of $ 3.7 mil­lion since 1993 — Alliance, Anglican, Lutheran, Ortho­dox, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United and others. But Alberta churches are not alone in accepting gambling money. Ontario's Trillium Foundation has funded organizations such as Vision TV, Canada's "religious" channel, and the Church Council on Justice and Corrections. The latter received $21,000 in 1996-97. Some churches have now concluded that it is wrong to accept funds raised through gambling. In a few cases, church leaders have turned down their share of gambling receipts. For example, St. Stephen's Ukrainian Catholic parish council returned the $80,000 earmarked to help fund a $1.8 million cultural centre. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army once argued that it was okay "to use the devil's money to do the Lord's work." But this is no longer the case today. The Salvation Army has now a policy against using money from lottery sources.

Conclusion←⤒🔗

What should Christians do to oppose gambling? They are admonished not "to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly pro­vides us with everything for our enjoyment" (1 Tim. 6:17). The most responsible action for the Christian is total absti­nence, setting a right example by opposing any form of church-sponsored gambling, by increasing voluntary giving to chari­ties, and by fostering cooperation with groups protesting the opening up of casinos, government-sponsored lotteries, and VLT's. Churches should have nothing to do what­ever with gambling, which has reached the propor­tion of a devastating social menace. They also should offer help to gamblers through pastoral counsel­ing and referral.