Sports betting falls into one of those gray areas that we wrestle with in Christianity. To define it accurately, betting on sports is gambling – it is no different from buying a lottery ticket or going to a casino. While many would want to condemn it right away, there are no specific verses in the Bible that explicitly state “thou shalt not gamble.”
"Gambling" is a common term when it comes to sports. Whether individuals are betting on the Super Bowl, horse races, or a college basketball game, there are many concerns that come to mind. Gambling can quickly become an addiction. While many people do not think there is anything wrong with gambling, or they view it as "just a game,” it can have many negative consequences. Not only can you lose a lot of your hard-earned money, but you can also fall into debt that impacts others.
If you are reading this article today, it is probably because you are thinking about gambling sometime in the future. Or maybe it's because you have already gambled and you want to see what the Bible says about it. Nobody can make a choice for you on whether or not you gamble but do try to allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in the matter. Things become dangerous when we start ignoring the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Be more attuned to God and allow Him to direct your steps. Through studying what the Bible says, going to God in prayer, and listening to the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit, you will be able to see the truth when it comes to gambling. Rather than seeing it as what you've labeled it, you will see it for what God says it is.
Let's consider three reasons Christians shouldn't gamble:
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A former church secretary from Alabama was recently sentenced to nearly 2 years in prison after stealing over $89,000 from her church, using the funds for personal expenses, and gambling it away at casinos.
According to a press release from the Department of Justice, 59-year-old Carmen Ramer Davis from Opp was sentenced to 18 months in prison last Thursday. From 2006 through 2019, she served as secretary for Brooklyn Congregational Methodist Church in Coffee County, where she had access to the church’s bank accounts and had the authority to pay for the church’s bills and expenses.
If our intuitions do influence our moral decisions, even overriding our best intentions and our rationality, we’d do well to pay attention to what is shaping them. What’s legally available (or not) shapes them, and not just because people don’t want to get in trouble. Laws create conditions, such as whether we have access to certain products and advertising. Laws make some financial incentives possible, but not others. They can also normalize or stigmatize behaviors. In other words, laws play a role in fostering the habits of a people, and people tend to be formed by their habits. Laws should not enable and should never incentivize bad habits. Good habits, on the other hand, also form our moral intuitions.
Television commentator and Hall of Fame coach Tony Dungy is criticizing the NFL’s partnerships with gaming companies, saying the league is hypocritical for “promoting gambling” while telling its players not to participate.
Theologian and seminary president Albert Mohler says evangelicals who believe gambling isn't a moral issue need to consider the real-world impact on families.
Today is what some call “the professional sports equinox,” the one night of the year where the NBA, NHL, MLB, and the NFL all have games. For sports fans, it’s like Christmas, Easter, Labor Day, and the Fourth of July all rolled into one. And, because of the new culture-wide push for sports gambling, Friday morning may bring quite the hangover.
The legalization and growth of online gambling has coincided with the legalization of recreational marijuana. This is no coincidence. After all, laws are mostly downstream from the larger culture, and these laws do far more to expand personal license. Rather, they reflect and reinforce an unmistakable message, especially to young men, to aim low, to think short-term thoughts about life and the world, to pursue immediate gratification, and to not aspire to too much.
