In what ways is gambling a sin?

[sidetrack]

In one the replies to my “Is playing stock market"gambling?” thread I was suprised when someone put

“Trading stocks is a type of gambling in the way that doing business is gambling. Every entreprenuer is gambling by going into business. It is also akin to gambling on sports. I can study the teams and figure out which teams are best. I used to do so and made my father some money by telling him which teams to bet on. These are all forms of gambling, but the Church is not against gambling, only gambling to excess[similar to drinking and smoking I suppose?]…”

Is that last part true?.See I’ve only been to a casino thrice so far in my life and all those times I’ve gambled with extreme reluctance having doing so when accompanied with people who’ve insisted me to do so.The my most recent visit to one was last Saturday I relecutantly went there after a buffet and we made a stop to a casino.

Here’s some personal things that I’ll say so you’ll understand my perspective on gambling.I’m a guy who does’nt like taking frivolous risks espeically when I lack certainity to say the least.Also when I was little I had the “Pokemon Silver” game and those fimilar with the handheld games knows that in everyone of most of those games (apparently the recent “Black and white” ones dont have them for some reason) there’s at least one city with a casino in it and slot machines.I did’nt like playing slot machines in a video game back then and I dont like real ones in the here and now.

Thus in a way I gambled againest my will and assurdely not to any excess.I’d like to know if it’s something worthy of confession then.Yet is’nt gambling (espeically when you consider* what *is put up for bets) a pretty shady doing for the Church to give leniance to?.Does anyone know what other religions like say Islam stand on gambling?.Thank you very much so for your time.

 

[ahs]

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

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.

2414 The seventh commandment forbids acts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of human beings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personal dignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamental rights to reduce them by violence to their productive value or to a source of profit. St. Paul directed a Christian master to treat his Christian slave "no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord."193

 

[Sirach2]

It seems to me the lust for free monetary gain is at the root of gambling. Would anyone go to huge bingo rallies just for the pleasure of the game if the organizers decided not to offer money prizes? I seriously doubt it. Motivation, and the degree to which one is addicted to gambling would determine whether the person crossed the line from a harmless pasttime into more serious spiritual danger.

I used to visit my mother in Las Vegas, and the minute I got off the plane, you could see people hitting the slot machines in the aisles before they got to the baggage claim area.

 

[roads152]

My humble opinion is that gambling in any form is contrary to the tenth commandment.
Gamblers, in general, gamble not in order to lose money because if they are simply losing money, they would not have expected to win; nor to give something to charity because the place to give to charity is somewhere else.
The fact is gamblers expect to win and the proceeds of such winning is definitely not his own money. Expecting to win in gambling is the same as coveting money that is not the gamblers’ property.
How on earth can this be not contrary to “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors’ goods.”?

 

[tuscany]

** Catholic Churches all over the U.S. used to be huge on Bingo playing.

Just my opinion, but I really don’t see anything different or wrong with playing either Bingo or a slot machine.

I take my $20.00, and look at it like I would any entertainment…paying to go see a movie, riding some rides at the fair, playing miniature golf, etc. When my $20.00 is gone, I leave - just like I do when a movie is over, I run out of ride tickets, or whatever.

I set my limit on how many movies I’ll see, how many rides I will ride, or how much I will spend playing slot machines ahead of time, that is all the money I will bring with me, and that’s it.
I do know that slot machines are set against the player, so I am only willing to play the penny machines. To me, it’s just a couple of hours of entertainment, just like Bingo is.

Now, if you’re gambling everything you have, your family is going hungry, or you can’t pay your bills because of it, then you are in sin territory. **

 

[Julia_Mae]

If we are going to all stop gambling everyone will have to stop farming.

Okay, my daughter does the $20 in the slot machine thing, too. Which is fine if you actually do that. Mostly it’s a way to hang with friends and have a free drink or two. Then they have lunch and go home. Seems fine to me.

I play poker. To me, it’s not gambling. It is irritating as all get out, sometimes, though. .

I think the question is: what’s an occasion of sin for you? And, just because someone can afford to dump $100 into a slot machine, does that mean they should? Anyone think Save the Children can put it to better use and we can all go hiking or something?

There may be other issues about disposable income than the letter of the law about whether the chosen activity is sinful.

 

[ahs]

Gambling also can become a serious sin if a man spends all his money gambling when that money was supposed to go toward providing for his family. In that way, he has neglected his duty to provide for his family and allowed himself to be enslaved by his addiction to gambling…(to tie that in to my first post).

 

[fred_conty]

The early apostles thru dice to see who would take the place of Judas.
That is about as serious as it gets.