It's A Bad Bet

Gambling is picking up momentum as it rolls down it’s slippery slope here in West Virginia. A couple of horse tracks have been in business here for decades. A few years ago, the dog track was built at Cross Lanes, and the gaming industry gained a stronger foothold. The institution of the West Virginia Lottery was ballyhooed to be the sure fix for all the financial ills of the Mountain State. Obviously this has not been the case.

This year, our Governor and legislature pushed through a bill that would allow voters of four counties where racetracks already exist to vote in a local option election on the question of allowing casino style table games at those facilities. They have done this under the guise of being under the umbrella of the lottery. Anyone with a lick of sense knows that when the lottery concept was brought to us, it had noting to do with having casinos here in our state. The legality of the whole process is still being questioned.

A statewide vote was not allowed, only the local options. To date, the voters in Ohio County in the northern panhandle have approved the proposal, but the question was defeated in Jefferson County. The voters of Kanawha County are next and the gambling industry is hitting the airwaves hard with slick, well done commercials that tout the possibility of more jobs, and all the benefits to families in West Virginia. The latest TV commercial ends with the tag, “Even if you don’t play, you win”.

I doubt it.

Gambling is a bad bet. Now, many will say that gambling is not forbidden in the Bible. This is true. However neither is pornography, cheating on taxes, or computer fraud, but I think most of us would recognize that these are areas that should be avoided by the Christian. Even though not specifically prohibited in the scriptures, there are certain ethical principles that are found in the Bible that should cause believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to abstain from and speak out against such practices.

Dr. Hershael York addressed the issue of Gambling a couple of years ago in “The Western Recorder” when he was President of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. The points Dr. York makes speak well to my personal conviction against gambling. Space will not allow me to reprint the whole article, but allow me to list his main points:

"Working and investing for a living is based on a win/win scenario, but gambling is always win/lose. (for someone to win there has to be many losers)
Gambling is motivated by greed
Gambling is a wasteful use of the Lord’s money
Gambling shows a lack of love for your neighbor
Gambling fails to consider innocent families
Gambling shows no concern for God’s glory
Gambling is not an act of faith – it’s a game of chance"

I would also add that gambling can also be addictive. I pray that the voters of Kanawha County will not be fooled by TV con men who say that the future economic impact of the area depends on putting a casino at Cross Lanes. There is an ancient Hebrew expression that applies to that line of thought. Baloney!