Gambling
Is it immoral or unscriptural to play poker, buy a lotto ticket, or play a slot machine? Is gambling a sin? Webster’s dictionary defines gambling as, “to play a game for money or property; to bet on an uncertain outcome; or to take a chance.”
Scripture records people gambling to gain clothing (Ps 22:18; John 19:24), gambling to gain knowledge of a sinner’s identity (Jonah 1:7), and gambling to gain Judas’ replacement (Acts 1:26). All of these employ games of chance in order to gain something of value, whether it be clothing, information that will lead to personal safety, or a twelfth disciple to replace the traitor. Scripture relates the gambling for clothing with the acts of evil men or unbelievers; Christians often perceive the second two as permissible or even blessed. Therefore, it appears that scripture does not outright forbid gambling. God does, however, forbid greed.
The Bible calls greed “fleshly” (2 Pet 2:14), “wicked” (Ps 10:3), “evil” (Rom 1:28-29), and says to avoid greed (Luke 12:15; 1 John 2:15-17). Rather, Christians are instructed to be good stewards of God’s provisions and gifts (Matt 25:14-30) in order to benefit others (1 Thess 5:15) and to glorify God (Luke 12:31; 1 Cor 10:31). Greed is evil because greed is self-serving and places personal satisfaction before satisfying God.
Based on these texts, using any resource for greedy, self-serving purposes is a sin. Spending grocery money on a scratch off game in the hopes becoming rich is greed. Maxing out one’s credit cards to beat the slot machine is greed. Betting the mortgage payment in a poker game to feed the need to win or even to keep playing is greed. Conversely, if someone allocates a certain amount of money for entertainment and chooses to spend that money at the casino rather than a baseball game, then they commit no sin because the activity is not done out of greed.
Some Christians believe that risking money on something in order to profit financially without doing any work is greedy gambling and is sinful. If this is so, then all Christians must immediately pull out of the stock market and give away any profits they gained. There is no guarantee of gain in the stock market (i.e., the crashes in 1929 and 1987), but each stock possesses a risk of loss. Those who invest seek to make money by playing the odds without doing any work. By definition, this is gambling and, it could be argued, is the sin of greed.
Greed is the sin believers must avoid, not gambling. While gambling can become greedy, it is the greed that is sinful, not the game. In the end, though, Christians must love and glorify God with all that they are, all that they have, and all that they do (Deut 6:5). This is the greatest commandment.