If you were to ask the average person whether they would consider gambling something that is good or bad, many people would say that gambling is bad. From a Biblical point of view, I would agree that gambling is a bad thing. The position that I take on gambling is not due to some perverse desire to discourage Christians from doing anything that is fun. Yes, I do agree that some people find pleasure in gambling. Despite the fact that gambling possibly provides pleasure, it is not something a Christian individual would want to participate in. The position that I take is rooted in the Biblical principle that a Christian should have basic consideration and respect for other humans [ Matthew 22:39 says "...Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.]

Given that gambling can have a variety of meanings, let us first discuss the word "gambling." I am not using the word "gambling" as a synonym for taking risks. I say this because taking a risk can actually be a good thing in some situations. For example, a village may not have adequate clean drinking water. And, the existence of deep underground springs seem to indicate that a water well could be dug to provide sufficient clean drinking water. The village takes a calculated "risk" in committing the resources to dig the well. For purposes of this article, the risk (or some might say gamble) that the village takes is not the topic of our discussion. The gambling that is the focus of this article is defined as a speculative venture that contains three critical characteristics.

These three characteristics are:

1 -Two or more participants must risk a stake (for example- money, property, or even some non-tangible service)
2 - Each participant attempts to defeat other participants in some type of game or contest
3 - The winning participant then takes the stake that other participants have risked

Gambling can occur in expensive lavish casinos, or it can occur in the home of private citizens. Let me provide two examples that demonstrate this point.

I have seen were people sit around a table playing card games. In each successive round of play every participant is required to bet/risk money (the stake) that he/she has the highest scoring set of cards. Through repeated rounds of play, one by one, participants who have lost all their money are excluded from the game. The end result is that one person ends up controlling/taking the money of all the other persons who participated in the contest.

In a casino you may have participants who walk in off the street into the casino to participate in games competing against other citizens as well as a dealer who is a representative of the casino. Make no mistake, the citizens at the table of play are there in order to take each other's money as well as any money that the casino is offering as its stake. And, if there is a dealer involved, he/she is there to beat the citizens out of their money. The dealer's salary and the whole casino establishment exists as a result of the casino being able to beat participants out of their money. I have been to Las Vegas and seen the multi-million dollar gambling complexes - I can only assume that there are a lot of people gambling and losing a great deal of money to keep these gambling establishments operating.

The fundamental principle in gambling is that you are trying to deprive someone else of his/her stake (money, goods, or services) without paying your opponent anything in return, so that you might increase your wealth at another person's expense. To put it another way, gambling is based on a principle of greed.

What is greed? The AMERICAN HERITAGE COLLEGE DICTIONARY Third Edition says that greed is: "An excessive desire to acquire or possess more than one needs or deserves, esp. of material wealth."
 

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