Gambling—Does Anyone Win?
By Awake! correspondent in Italy
‘IN THESE times of serious economic recession, there is an industry untouched by the crisis.’ The Italian magazine Corriere della Sera Illustrato referred to the gambling industry. Yes, in Italy, as in many other lands, gambling is big business.
“The U.S. is in the midst of an explosion of legalized gambling,” says Fortune magazine. “Hugely profitable, the lotteries last year [1983] netted . . . almost $2.1 billion.” Gambling also lures great numbers of Canadians. According to the newspaper La Presse, families living in Quebec spend more on gambling than on medicine and dental care!
While lotteries, roulette wheels, dice, and card games are used in gambling, the outcome of boxing matches, football games, and horse races are some of the more popular things gamblers bet on. But as The Complete Illustrated Guide to Gambling puts it: “Determined gamblers will bet on which of two raindrops will first reach the bottom of a window pane, or on the number of hairs growing on a hirsute mole.” Thus, in Italy they bet on presidential elections, whether the government will fall or not, and even the election of the pope! The night before a football match is likewise a time of frenzy for gamblers, who spend fantastic sums of money on football pools. Newspapers call this ‘Saturday night fever.’
Who, though, are the winners in the game of gambling? Does the fact that millions—yes, billions—of dollars are up for grabs indicate that gambling is somehow worth while?
Why They Gamble
Sharon and Steve were happily married. But when Sharon discovered that they were buried in debt, she begged Steve to abandon gambling. Countless promises to stop were broken. Sharon’s health collapsed, and she began to have chest pains. That concerned Steve little. His only thought was that if she died, he could use the insurance money to pay off his gambling debts.
This real-life case, related in Medical Aspects of Human Sexuality, well illustrates how tenacious a hold gambling can have on people. For some, the lure of gambling is greed, pure and simple. However, the booklet Compulsive Gambling says: “People who gamble . . . do so for special satisfactions: relief from tension and stress, the excitement of taking a chance, the thrill of anticipating a winning, a ‘glow’ or ‘high’ similar to that produced by alcohol, and sociability and companionship. When the result is a win, added to the other effects is a feeling of power, even of omnipotence.”
Winning early in life, though, often sets a subtle trap. While most people may brush off such a win as “beginner’s luck,” some foolishly interpret it as an omen of sorts. Said an article in Psychology Today: “The cold, hard odds—the fact that 90 percent of those who gamble lose—do not impress them. They feel that they are immune to these odds, that they are, in fact, special.” This almost pathological refusal to face facts is one of the first steps toward becoming a compulsive gambler.
The Italian newspaper Stampa Sera stated that for such ones, gambling is “a drug a person cannot do without.” Or as Giovanni Arpino wrote in Il Giornale nuovo: “This vice becomes irremediably embedded in one’s flesh.” Gambling provides an escape from a way of life that might otherwise be boring.
Even when gambling only for light recreation, the participant can fall prey to pride and egotism, refusing to quit if he loses or continuing to play after he wins—only to lose again.
Beating the Odds
Though the gambler may feel he is ‘destined to win,’ the fact is that a gambler is almost certain to be a loser! The reason? Simple mathematics. Flip a coin ten times, and how often does it come up heads or tails? Intuition may say it should be five and five. Try it. It rarely comes out that way. You see, the so-called law of averages works only with large numbers. In other words, toss a coin an infinite number of times and, yes, it will come out heads and tails equally. But over the short run, any combination could appear. Thus, there’s really no telling how any specific toss will come out.
The gambler refuses to accept this. If a coin has come out heads eight times in a row, he may believe with almost religious fervor that it just has to come out tails on the next toss. And he’ll bet away a fortune on that conviction. In reality, the coin has no memory of its past performance. The odds on each toss are still fifty-fifty!
How futile it is, then, to attempt to predict with accuracy what will happen in a more complicated game such as blackjack or roulette! The odds against winning consistently are simply astronomical. This is true even in sports such as horse racing or football on which bets are based on the skill of the contestants. “Time and unforeseen occurrence” simply wreaks havoc with predictions. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) Nor is it usually possible to beat the odds with a “system.” In Italy more than half of those participating in football pools try this by purchasing several coupons at the same time. However, the only sure system in this kind of game would be to send in every possible result for each game. Sure, you’d win. But the amount spent would not be recouped by the amount won.
The only ones who win in gambling are gambling promoters. Casino owners simply adjust the odds in any given game so that the casino almost always comes out ahead. In Italian football pools, reportedly a mere 35 percent of the total amount staked is paid out as prize money. The ones running the pools keep the rest.
Therefore, people who say, ‘But I’m lucky’ or, ‘I’ve been unlucky so far, but I’m sure I’ll start winning from now on’ are simply fooling themselves. Gambling is an exercise in futility. And while the media give great publicity to the ever so few winners, you rarely hear about the millions of losers.
Gambling and the Bible
“Folly, vice, passion, frenzy, escape from reality, adventure, wild dreams, transgression, and a craving for risk that regenerates as fast as it can be satisfied—gambling is all of these, together with a hankering after riches, daydreams, and dominating emotions.” So said the magazine La Repubblica. No wonder governments often make gambling illegal, although perhaps hypocritically condoning the practice in licensed casinos or running lotto and the like themselves!
Regardless of how men view this matter, the Bible indicates that gambling is incompatible with Christianity. Some, for example, may feel that gambling simply fills an economic need. But Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today our bread for this day.” How could a person greedily gamble for money and then pray this? Or how could he follow the exhortation: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness, and all these other things [material necessities] will be added to you”?—Matthew 6:11, 33.
The Bible further advises: “Let your manner of life be free of the love of money, while you are content with the present things.” (Hebrews 13:5) The gambler often is anything but content. In fact, he is greedy, and the Bible says that greedy persons “will not inherit God’s kingdom.”—1 Corinthians 6:9, 10.
True, some argue that they gamble not for money but for excitement. The Bible roundly condemns, however, those who sidestep godly principles and become “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.” (2 Timothy 3:4, 5) Further, Jesus said: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39) How can a person love his neighbor while trying to take away his neighbor’s money? How can gambling be harmonized with the fundamental principle, “There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving”?—Acts 20:35.
Not to be overlooked is the fact that gamblers often invoke “the god of Good Luck,” something the Bible clearly condemns.—Isaiah 65:11.
Finally, consider the corrupting influence gambling has on a Christian’s “useful habits.” (1 Corinthians 15:33) The Christian way of life involves hard work and thrift. (Ephesians 4:28) Jesus himself showed he was not wasteful when, after the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, he gave orders that the leftovers were not to be wasted. (John 6:12, 13) But rather than following in Jesus’ footsteps, the gambler is more akin to the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable, who “squandered his property by living a debauched life.”—Luke 15:13.
True Christians thus stay away from the snare of gambling in all its forms. It makes no difference to them whether small or large sums are involved. As Jesus said: “The person faithful in what is least is faithful also in much, and the person unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much.”—Luke 16:10.
Interestingly, Jehovah’s Witnesses have helped many who were caught in the snare of compulsive gambling to break free. (See previous page.) Such ones no longer experience the rush of adrenaline that gambling brings, but now they have a real purpose in life. And rather than engaging in a practice that destroys health and family, they are “rich in fine works.” They are “ready to share,” rather than ready to scheme how to take away someone else’s hard-earned money. They have “a firm hold on the real life,” not the fantasy world of gambling. (1 Timothy 6:18, 19) They have thus become real winners!
[Blurb on page 13]
“The cold, hard odds—the fact that 90 percent of those who gamble lose—do not impress them. They feel that they are immune to these odds, that they are, in fact, special.”—Psychology Today.
[Box on page 14]
I Was a Gambler
I got hooked on the game of poker at age 12. After I got married, I kept up my habit, beginning my gambling at nine o’clock in the evening, finishing at five or six in the morning. After this, numb with fatigue, I’d try to go to work. Often I did not make it.
Gambling began to ruin my family life and personality. Poker requires a lot of bluffing. But I’d find myself bluffing and lying my way around in real life. Then there was the problem of money. When I won, I had the urge to spend it right away, so it didn’t stay in my pocket for long. Soon my marriage failed.
In 1972, two of Jehovah’s Witnesses knocked on my door. As they spoke to me, I thought, ‘Nobody does anything for nothing. They have to have some ulterior motive.’ (A poker player trains himself to be suspicious of everything!) But as time went on, I realized this was not true. I went to one of their meetings, and though I didn’t understand everything, I was impressed by their orderliness, harmony, and kindness.
I began to study the Bible. And gambling? I had to make a clean break from it. But when the Bible’s truth enters your life, you lose the motivation to gamble. So with great effort, I stopped. I was baptized in 1975.
The benefits have been enormous. My health has improved—and so has my personality. My life is no longer dominated by gambling but by spiritual interests. Before, only fellow gamblers held me in esteem. Now I am loved by the congregation where I serve as an elder. I now realize that the gambler is a loser. And the Bible’s truths have helped me to see this.—Contributed.
[Picture on page 15]
Is it consistent for a Christian to gamble and yet pray, “Give us today our bread for this day”?