Is it a sin to buy lottery tickets?

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In my office, we have a lottery pool going. Five of us each give $2 each week towards powerball.

Is this a sin?
 
Well, which do think is more productive? Buying a lottery ticket with minimal chance of success or giving that money directly to charity?
 
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levi86:
Well, which do think is more productive? Buying a lottery ticket with minimal chance of success or giving that money directly to charity?
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This question has come up for me because I work with protestants who will not play the loto. I had never thought of it as sin before.

Also, isn’t money into retirement accounts a type of gambling. It is playing the stock market, is it not?
 
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Jocelyn:
This question has come up for me because I work with protestants who will not play the loto. I had never thought of it as sin before.

Also, isn’t money into retirement accounts a type of gambling. It is playing the stock market, is it not?
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Well if you look at it that way I suppose all of life’s a gamble, right?

But let’s face it, buying a lotto ticket is a bit of an indulgence, personally I never gamble. I try to put my money to better use. But if you had to justify it with yourself you could remember that the profits from the lotto usually go to charity, at least it does with ours (lottowest) but I’m not sure about the others
 
Just money that is used for entertainment where it has no negative impact on health, etc.

not a sin
 
gamling per se is not a sin, it is another recreation, no more sinful than spending money on any other form of entertainment. it could become a sin if it is addictive or compulsive, if the gambler uses money set aside for other purposes, if it is done in conjunction with sinful activities such as drunkenness, lewd entertainment etc.

whether it is prudent or virtuous is another matter. Some gambling is a form of fundraising for worthy causes. Whether it is the best form of fundraising is debatable. Some bishops have banned any form of gambling for funding Catholic schools. etc. DH calls lottery tickets the stupidity tax, a tax levied on people dumb enough to pay it.
 
Gambling of any sort becomes sinful when the amounts in question exceed a persons ability to provide, or when the games are unfair. They can be a near occasion of sin for those with addictions.

The CCC on the subject
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.
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Insurance is itself a form of gambling. Life Insurance, for example is a bet that you will die during the policy life time, the Insurance company bets that you won’t. One expresses a desired payout on the bet, and the insurance company expresses the bet (premium) it is willing to accept for that payout.

If all gambling were sinful, all insurance would be sinful too.
 
At a $2/week rate, I wouldn’t think it’s sinful.

Gambling (which lottery tickets are a form of) can be no sin at all, or it can be a serious sin. If one were to budget $10/week for entertainment in addition to meeting all other requirements (whatever is required for the shelter/food/clothing, transportation, support of one’s parish, charitable giving, medical expenses, and the like), it is a matter of indifference whether that $10 is spent on scratch off tickets, a movie ticket (as long as the movie is not problematical for content), books (as with the movie ticket), admission to a ball game, or whatever else. As long as obligations are met, it’s not sinful to seek a little entertainment, even when said entertainment isn’t free (and even if others don’t see it as particularly entertaining).

It becomes a serious problem when someone is gambling away sums they cannot afford to lose (because by losing that money, necessary expenses go unpaid). I think even the most scrupulous would have a hard time saying that an expenditure of $2/week impedes one’s ability to cover necessities of life.
 
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Jocelyn:
In my office, we have a lottery pool going. Five of us each give $2 each week towards powerball.

Is this a sin?
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To put it simply, No.
 
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