Is gambling a sin?

[Anonymous_1]

Here is what i mean
i am in a bowling league. They have a pot you can pay into(up to 5 dollars per game) and if you get a specified seuquence of strikes and spares in the appropriate frames, you win 10 times the amount you paid in.

I dont know what the Churches teaching is ont his type of thing but if it is sinful i want to know. I don;t see it as being any different than when an athlete wins a prize.

can someone help me?

 

[stbruno]

Gambling is not a sin, otherwise they would close Bingo halls in churches. Addiction to gambling is the sin…using the money to gamble that is needed to pay the utility bill or put food on the table is the sin.

Enjoy yourself, but do all things in moderation and make sure you don’t keep it secret from your spouse…that would be a sin too.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

Here’s the answer straight from the Catechism:

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.