“Thou shalt not gamble.”
Okay, now that I have your attention, there is no 11th commandment prohibiting gambling. Gambling — whether it involves wagering on your favorite sports team, dropping coins in a slot machine, or scratching off lottery tickets at the corner gas station — joins a list of other issues the Bible doesn’t directly forbid. However, the Bible is far from silent on the methods, motivations, and manifestations associated with gambling. What was once considered shady activity at best and openly sinful at worst, gambling is now so ubiquitous it has become a major feature of American culture. In 2024, the casino industry (both online and brick-and-mortar) took in over $115 billion from gamblers’ losses. Sports wagering garnered a record $13.7 billion in revenue, with the vast majority of people placing bets losing to the house. Lottery ticket sales account for another $113.3 billion.
American attitudes toward gambling have shifted over the last five years as more people realize the negative social and health aspects of predatory gambling. High-profile corruption cases brought against the NBA (Operation Royal Flush) and Major League Baseball (pitch-rigging by two Cleveland Guardian pitchers) have added to the concern that gambling is fast becoming a major moral problem with serious, long-term negative consequences.
As we turn to the Bible for guidance on how we should view gambling, we begin in Genesis, where we who are created in the image of God are called to be stewards of God’s creation. Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” Simply stated, we are to make something of the world! God’s call for us to have dominion over His creation is not a call to a dictatorial, destructive dominance but a call to cultivate and exercise good stewardship over His good creation. Gambling is the opposite of good stewardship. It is the taking of God’s provided resources and flinging them to the wind, hoping luck will lead to a positive addition of more resources. Positive stewardship doesn’t depend on chance. It is built on the wise and careful investment of God’s provision using the natural abilities He has gifted us with to add to His creation.
Besides poor stewardship, gambling creates an environment where greed and the desire for easy gain often lead to a disregard for the sacred nature of God’s image in humanity. People who succumb to gambling addiction often become abusive of their partners. Gambling brings drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, and the exploitation of the poor. These elements lead to the marring of God’s image in humanity.
Exodus 20:17 prohibits all forms of coveting. Gambling thrives on covetousness. It entices our human desires and appetites to grow to the point that they become all-consuming. There is certainly nothing wrong with wanting to earn a good living. However, when the desire for money becomes an end in itself, it becomes idolatry. We elevate wealth to a level where we will sacrifice our morality, our relationships, and our integrity to get it. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this is also vanity.”
Paul reminds Timothy, “But those who desire to be rich will fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Tim. 6:9–10). When the desire for money becomes a love that supersedes all other loves, it has become idolatry that leads to personal, relational, and societal breakdown.
A Christian understanding sees government as responsible for embracing and implementing policies that curtail vice and promote that which is virtuous. First Peter 2:13–14 says, “Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor who is supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.” All the gambling bills sitting in the South Carolina Legislature would transfer money from the gambling industry to the state via taxes. Glowing promises of tax relief for some that is built on the backs of people who lose their livelihood through gambling makes the government a partner in their misery. South Carolina can, and must, do better!
— Tony Beam is senior director of Church and Community Engagement at North Greenville University and policy consultant for SCBaptists.