To one degree or another, the COVID-19 plague has shut down businesses, family holiday celebrations, sports, and schools. Yet there is one area of American life that’s wide open—our addiction to gambling.
According to licensed mental health counselors Lin Sternlicht and Aaron Sternlicht, the numbers of people experiencing mental health and addiction issues are rising amid the stress of the coronavirus. Gambling is a significant part of the problem.
“The data,” they say, “indicates a significant uptick in online gambling is occurring, so much so that it has forced political leaders, gambling councils, and the industry itself to place restrictions on the frequency of betting and amount that can be bet as well as on advertisements that promote gambling.”
But as the various professional and college sports leagues began returning to action in the summer, so did sports betting. The Wall Street Journal reports that the ubiquitous DraftKings saw its number of users increase by nearly two-thirds and its revenues almost double from 2019’s third quarter. Agreements between sports betting companies and casinos in 2019 are fueling the surge. Revenue in the industry is expected to grow from $2.5 billion this year to $8 billion in 2021.
It appears that mankind is not only incurably religious. We’re also incurable bettors—especially now.
“One reason is that many of the major triggers for gambling are being exacerbated during this period of quarantine and stay-at home orders,” the Sternlichts observe. “These triggers include loneliness, boredom, stress, anxiety, and depression. As many of us are currently isolated in our homes, gambling has become an outlet to reduce restlessness and monotony and to cope with loneliness and negative mood.”
According to licensed mental health counselors Lin Sternlicht and Aaron Sternlicht, the numbers of people experiencing mental health and addiction issues are rising amid the stress of the coronavirus. Gambling is a significant part of the problem.
For some of us, the relief that gambling promises can quickly morph into something much worse—unshakable addiction. A Harvard Medical School study found that over 5 percent of American adults are either “pathological” or “problem” gamblers. And gambling has the distinction of being the addiction with the highest suicide rate.
The Sternlichts say that about 1 percent of those who partake in any form of gambling have a gambling problem, but the share rises to 10 percent of people who play casino games only. A Catholic seminarian visited a casino in Atlantic City and was able to walk out after spending his allotted $20 on the quarter slots. Not everyone was so lucky.
“I was appalled,” he writes, “by how many people spent hours loading the slot machines with multiple coins. Worse yet, I remember watching the action at a poker table and seeing the well-dressed, distinguished manager approach one of the players with a document to sign, which basically mortgaged his home.”
Despite such anecdotes, gambling is seen by some as a way to shore up their shaky finances. But that’s a very bad bet. According to Lottery USA, for example, the odds of winning the Mega Millions jackpot are one in 302.6 million. For the Powerball, it’s one in 292.2 million. To put those odds in perspective, there are 331 million people in the United States. There are a lot more problem gamblers than winning gamblers.
Augustine is reputed to have said, “The Devil invented gambling.” Whether that’s true or not, Christians ought to approach this undeniably problematic activity with extreme caution, if at all.
The Christian response to gambling is mixed. Roman Catholics, who have a long history of church funding via gambling, say that gambling is both dangerous and permissible. The Catechism states that “games of chance themselves are not contrary to justice” but adds that gambling is morally unacceptable if it deprives “someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others.” Given gambling’s disproportionate impact on the poor, that moral threshold is low indeed.
Seeing the basic injustice of gambling, many Protestants view wagering as intrinsically evil, saying it violates many scriptural principles, including commands involving neighbor-love, temptation, theft, greed, sloth, work, idolatry, coveting, and responsible stewardship. It substitutes belief in a sovereign and caring God who provides for His people with an erroneous belief in luck or chance.
“Gambling is nowhere approved in the Bible,” the late Billy Graham said. “Instead, the Bible stresses that the Christian should earn his living by honest work and effort, and this would exclude relying on chance (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12). The Bible tells us to ‘abstain from all appearance of evil’ (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Gambling has often done untold evil to people by making them lose money that could be used for good purposes or even the necessities of life. Money is given to us by God to be used for good, not evil. Anyone seeking to do God’s will should not be involved in gambling.”
Those who say that gambling increases tax revenues or supports schools need to look at the data. The math just doesn’t add up. And if you want to support the schools, why not just be up front about it and write a check or pass a tax increase? Given all we know of the huge, unjust social and moral costs of gambling, it’s incredibly hard to see how all the purported benefits measure up.
Augustine is reputed to have said, “The Devil invented gambling.” Whether that’s true or not, Christians ought to approach this undeniably problematic activity with extreme caution, if at all.
Even if gambling is somehow permissible, why would we take such a risk when there are so many other things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy? Just because you’re free to do something foolish doesn’t mean you should. There is a whole world of opportunities into which we can invest our lives and treasure, and for which we will receive eternal rewards.
Gambling is a plague we can do without.
Stan Guthrie’s latest book is Victorious: Corrie ten Boom and The Hiding Place.
