Is gambling bad?

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crazydyl

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Hi Lovely Catholics 🙂

I am making a profit from online poker tournaments and I am using the money to save up for my Catholic family’s house. I will later give money to the poor when I have paid for my house. I want a house because buying is cheaper than renting so I will be able to give more money to people starving in the future. I don’t waste money at all.

Is it bad to gamble? Even if I am doing it like this? taking money from the wealthy and giving it to the starving and needy kinda like Robin Hood :o I don’t have to gamble because I have enough money as it is to live on, so should I give it up because it is bad? Or continue? Maybe it will make me dislike these people making money for themselves and make me think that non-Catholics are bad when we should all just love each other and not try to take each other’s money off each other, but is work not like that too? We work for companies competing against each other…

God bless

Dylan
 
crazydyl said:
Hi Lovely Catholics 🙂

I am making a profit from online poker tournaments and I am using the money to save up for my Catholic family’s house. I Is it bad to gamble? Even if I am doing it like this? taking money from the wealthy and giving it to the starving and needy kinda like Robin Hood :o

God bless

Dylan
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gambling is not immoral in and of itself, but may lead to immoral activity. If it is illegal where you are it is by definition also immoral. Is what you are doing legal? are you following IRS laws? if not you are in deep trouble. in general a justification such as “I am doing this questionable activity to raise money for the poor” does not hold water.
 
puzzleannie said:
gambling is not immoral in and of itself, but may lead to immoral activity. If it is illegal where you are it is by definition also immoral. Is what you are doing legal? are you following IRS laws? if not you are in deep trouble. in general a justification such as “I am doing this questionable activity to raise money for the poor” does not hold water.
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I am English and live in England 🙂
 
only if you loose. :o

No actually it is not wrong in itself…but can become wrong…like betting too much or illegal etc
 
Bookcat said:
only if you loose. :o

No actually it is not wrong in itself…but can become wrong…like betting too much or illegal etc
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but are poker tournaments bad? there is so much lying and deceit going on during the game. I am starting to not enjoy beating people in poker tournaments because I love everyone :o I am kinda feeling pretty bad about poker :o

BUT we must work and have swet on our foreheads like God saud 🙂 is this not work? Dishonest work? :o
 
By “my Catholic family”, do you mean “spouse and kids” or “parents”?
 
Gambling by legal means for entertainment purposes with unneeded funds is morally neutral. Many church-affiliated groups actually use forms of gambling in their fundraising activities. 50-50 drawings, bingo and carnival games are common here. The stakes in the fundraising activities tend to be low, so not much concern is given.

Fantasizing over what to do if you should happen to win is no problem so long as it does not inhibit you from your just responsibilities. However, making definitive plans dependent upon a certain amount of winnings is imprudent as it could lead to indebtedness in the likely event the winning are inadequate. It is better to see whether your winnings will complete the purchase before committing to buy (so if your fantasy is to buy a $300 000 house but you have only won $10 000, you should hold off until you have the rest in hand)
 
SonCatcher said:
Gambling by legal means for entertainment purposes with unneeded funds is morally neutral. Many church-affiliated groups actually use forms of gambling in their fundraising activities. 50-50 drawings, bingo and carnival games are common here. The stakes in the fundraising activities tend to be low, so not much concern is given.

Fantasizing over what to do if you should happen to win is no problem so long as it does not inhibit you from your just responsibilities. However, making definitive plans dependent upon a certain amount of winnings is imprudent as it could lead to indebtedness in the likely event the winning are inadequate. It is better to see whether your winnings will complete the purchase before committing to buy (so if your fantasy is to buy a $300 000 house but you have only won $10 000, you should hold off until you have the rest in hand)
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I do not have a gambling problem and I do not fantasise 🙂 Just because you can’t play poker 😛
 
crazydyl said:
but are poker tournaments bad? there is so much lying and deceit going on during the game. I am starting to not enjoy beating people in poker tournaments because I love everyone :o I am kinda feeling pretty bad about poker :o

BUT we must work and have swet on our foreheads like God saud 🙂 is this not work? Dishonest work? :o
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Talk it over with your confessor…he can ask more questions.

It can be of course sinful for sure if *you *are lying or cheating (which you did not say *you *were doing of course) …or there can be other reasons…is this “high stakes” poker? that can be more of a problem cause others are loosing big amounts that they should not bet etc…

So discuss it with your confessor…
 
crazydyl said:
I will have a family in the future 🙂 Are you being nosy? Or is there a point to asking that? 😛
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Sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy. :o I just remember you asking before about whether you should be a priest or get married, so when I saw “my Catholic family”, I thought “Boy, that happened fast!” 😉
 
crazydyl said:
I will have a family in the future 🙂 Are you being nosy? Or is there a point to asking that? 😛
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the point is poster is trying to answer your question
crazydyl said:
but are poker tournaments bad? there is so much lying and deceit going on during the game. I am starting to not enjoy beating people in poker tournaments because I love everyone :o I am kinda feeling pretty bad about poker :o

BUT we must work and have swet on our foreheads like God saud 🙂 is this not work? Dishonest work? :o
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2 problems here, one is literal interpretation of Genesis, which I very much doubt means that God doesn’t think anyone who does not break into a sweat at the office is doing legitimate work. The other problem is undefined terms. Are legal poker games immoral, no, only if they involve, aid or abet other immoral activities. Is it immoral for you in the context in which you do it? I have no idea, that is why your priest is their, ask him. Are you doing it with intent to defraud, with intent to take easy money from someone you know is addicted to gambling, by cheating? Is it destroying the virtues and promoting vices in your life, or among those with whom you play?
 
crazydyl said:
but are poker tournaments bad? there is so much lying and deceit going on during the game. I am starting to not enjoy beating people in poker tournaments because I love everyone :o I am kinda feeling pretty bad about poker :o

BUT we must work and have swet on our foreheads like God saud 🙂 is this not work? Dishonest work? :o
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Would you say that a quarterback in (American) football who engages in a fake pass in order to deceive his opponent has sinned? How would bluffing in poker be worse?
 
Gambling is not a sin. The lottery is not a sin, nor is bingo or the stock market. To varying degrees, they are all forms of taking a chance to gain profit.

To the person feeling bad about winning in poker, you are free to return some or all of the money to your friends. You’ll still be regarded as highly skilled, but they’ll have their money back.
 
crazydyl said:
but are poker tournaments bad? there is so much lying and deceit going on during the game. I am starting to not enjoy beating people in poker tournaments because I love everyone :o I am kinda feeling pretty bad about poker :o

BUT we must work and have swet on our foreheads like God saud 🙂 is this not work? Dishonest work? :o
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I am not entirely clear on this subject, but I believe the restriction on lying does exempt things like games where it is clearly understood by all involved that lying is part of the activity.

If it doesn’t… then I better go confess for the last time I played Diplomacy 🙂

–
Bill
 
mchale said:
I am not entirely clear on this subject, but I believe the restriction on lying does exempt things like games where it is clearly understood by all involved that lying is part of the activity.

If it doesn’t… then I better go confess for the last time I played Diplomacy 🙂

–
Bill
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Yes, and all those times I played “Mafia” back in college. “What are you talking about? I’m not in the Mafia.” 🙂
 
Hehe we will see if I can make it as a poker player! I am $3,000 in profit and I qualified through a $47 qualifier into a $640 buy-in poker event with $200,000 as the first prize 🙂 I am kinda busy studying so I can’t read poker books much 🙂 I am going to read about 10 books on poker and give this a real good try! If it doesn’t work out then bad luck 🙂 Please keep me in your prayers because I am doing this for the Catholic Church and missionaries 👍 :cool:
 
Come on guys, get real! Think about what you are actually doing here, and think about the people who get damaged severely by this sort of thing. If you choose to gamble, dont try to justify it. By asking that question you already are concerned about what you are doing, so you have the answer. I do not agree that any Church should be gaining money out bingos because that money that often poor people donate should be used in their own homes very often. Point no. 2 , if you like playing poker thats fine but you do not have to justify what you already suspect is not a good thing for you.👍👍
 
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