Gambling, is it ok?

  • Thread starter Thread starter wonderingCatholic
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

wonderingCatholic

Guest
I was wondering what everyone thought. Do you think it would be okay to go to a casino to play poker? If it didn’t interfere with praying and family life?
 
It’s not sinful in of itself. However, I’ve never wanted to part with my hard earned money through chance. I’ve bought an occasional scratch off but it just doesn’t thrill me to gamble. 😐
 
As long as you are not shirking your responsibilities to your family, you are supporting your parish, etc. Gambling is a morally neutral passtime.
 
Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about it:
2413 Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morally unacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. The passion for gambling risks becoming an enslavement. Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.
Click to expand...
To make that short passage even shorter, it’s not a sin unless you bet and lose your children’s lunch money, let it become an obsession, or cheat.
 
Last edited:
RandomAlias said:
Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.
Click to expand...
What an odd little clause there. Makes me think there’s a story behind it. Maybe to justify card counting at a casino? Then again, card counting isn’t really cheating, just using your noggin.
 
It’s not a sin. Many people have poker nights etc. It’s the same thing. Gambling for fun and in moderation is ok.
 
I always thought card counting just seemed like the smart thing to do if you could do that. If it’s considered cheating then all that means is that certain people are “cheating machines”.
 
CoffeeAndDonuts said:
40.png
RandomAlias:
Unfair wagers and cheating at games constitute grave matter, unless the damage inflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonably consider it significant.
Click to expand...
What an odd little clause there. Makes me think there’s a story behind it. Maybe to justify card counting at a casino? Then again, card counting isn’t really cheating, just using your noggin.
Click to expand...
Yes, I too was wondering particularly about the clause, “unless the damage inflicted is so slight.” It sounds like consequentialism, the idea that the morality of an act is determined only by its consequences. Normally the criterion is charity (love one another) and intention.

However, that clause would make sense to me if there is presumed (or implicit?) consent, that is, all players have agreed to allow a certain level of cheating. Do poker players ever have such an understanding?
 
Last edited:
I’ve never heard of poker players (or casinos) tolerating cheating.
 
I met my wife in Las Vegas… We were not gamblers.

I actually learned how to play roulette on a Catholic High School YM cruise over to the Bahamas. I was taught by the Assco Pastor who went with us.
 
Stick to blackjack, or even craps. Poker at a casino is a sure way to lose money unless you are very good.
There will be very good players at your table. Strike 1.
The rake is painful. If I give you a dollar, and someone takes a dime out. And you give me a dollar, and someone takes a dime out… Pretty soon, neither of us has any money. Strike 2
Finally, assume some at the table is cheating by colluding with another player. Strike 3
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top