You Gamble. We Argue. They'll Decide.

In any discussions of the issue, one becomes familiar with a number of semiplausible debates for gambling.

Gambling is often defined as amusement. Conscientious people who use this argument must not be aware that public gambling provides the treasure chest of the underworld.

Apparently, a distinction needs to be made between public gambling and occasional private wagering. But can a conscientious citizen justify his gambling as a personal amusement in the face of such evidence as this?

Organized gambling invites corruption, and the high stakes involved encourage unhealthy competition. So-called 'petty gambling' can lead to psychological decay and a desire for every larger stakes.

Furthermore, the individual knows that he is a steward of all the time, talent, and treasure entrusted to him by God.

Can he honestly use his gifts in gambling when his winnings are gained at the expense of another's losing, and where the house is ultimately the only winner?

All of life is a gamble - the stock market, farming, raising a family, even faith; therefore, why is the wagering of money in a game of chance any less moral than the investing of time, money, and effort in the chancy game of life?

Life indeed has plenty of risks to which the individual must accept with tremendous faith and courage. But those normal risks are in no sense morally equivalent to the risks taken in a game of chance.

Gambling offers artificial risks in the hope of excessive gain, gain far beyond what the investment of time, money, or skill justifies.

And the chance taken is unrelated to creative effort such as that called for from the farmer or the stockbroker who invests his mental and physical resources.

At the gaming table, money changes hands according to the luck of the persons involved; results depend not on effort or ingenuity but on the turn of the wheel, the throw of the dice, the odds on a race, or the drawing of a number.

The individual knows that ultimately, life is not a gamble, a risk, a game of chance. Rather, life is lived in the providential care and keeping everything real.

This rather addictive activity is instinctive with human beings. Those who advance this argument ask why we should fight against an activity that human nature seems to lead man to indulge in.

Let us rather control gambling by strict legislation and governmental supervision, they say; then taxes on gambling can go to the state and be returned to the people in the form of needed services.