Sports Betting Has Become Too Prevalent for Christians to Ignore
“There is a reluctance among Christians to condone gambling but not enough opposition to condemn it outright. I think many Christians aren’t quite sure what to make of the morality of gambling.” - C.Today
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I think one of the challenges is that 1) we don't have a really good theology around this, and the Bible isn't super clear in this area. I think this article attempts it with varying degrees of success, and 2) I don't think we really are good at defining "sports betting"? Is the office fantasy league, sports betting? Is the office pool betting? where everyone drops in $5 and the money is spent on a super bowl party at the end of the season. I think we would all argue the middle income individual who travels to Vegas for the weekend and spends the entire weekend spending money that he probably doesn't have on gambling on college football matches is pretty damaging. But the office environment where everyone makes $250K or more per year, does a $10 pool on college championship brackets, is probably not preying on the weak, is not chasing after money, is not looking to get rich, is not laying up treasures on earth.... I think this is why the church struggles and isn't very clear on how to address the dangers of it.
Yeah, all that. It’s one of issues with a few really clear principles and then a lot of ambiguity.
So a lot of Romans 14. As with so many things, if our hearts are in the right place it goes a long way. Add in some good ol’ practical wisdom from Proverbs and I think you’re mostly going to draw the lines pretty well.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
Objecting to gambling is pretty straightforward if one visits Vegas, or I'd guess Atlantic City, where the tables and machines are accompanied by workers who are dressed essentially as old style prostitutes, where the shows are too often "topless", and where the clear incentives/rhetoric is all about getting rich quick while being often extremely intoxicated. So you've clearly got covetousness, drunkenness, and porneia implicated in that setting, and then you can back things off with each level you back away from Vegas. Plus poor handling of money, and quite frankly you can, e.g. "Black Sox" or Pete Rose, end up contributing to the corruption of various institutions, especially in sports.
The porneia part would, I'd guess, decline a lot as you get away from Vegas, and the drunkenness/stoned-ness would go down as you back away from casinos altogether. The thing that remains is covetousness and poor handling of money. I've teased gamblers I know that if they have a few hundred/thousand bucks they need to get rid of, they can write a check, and I'll even send a thank you note.
Personally, things like cakewalks, office pools, and the like seem rather benign. Get into sports betting, the stakes are higher, and I've just got to ask what makes it so much better to bet on your team instead of just watching and enjoying the game.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Kind of like what you said highlighting the serious sports betting. I am assuming the vast majority of church members are not involved in the kind of heavy duty sports betting taking place in Vegas or OTB offices. Most is the fantasy sports league or college bracket in the office. I am 53 years old, and I have not met a Christian who was into Sports betting.
...that neither of us has met a Christian who admitted he was into sports betting, no? If indeed we think that serious sports betting is poor financial stewardship (I know I do), we would expect that those who do so would be less than willing to admit they were doing so.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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