What’s wrong with the lottery?
- Oct 9, 2008 - 1
What’s wrong with a lottery that will help fund scholarships for college students? Shouldn’t we support education every way possible?
What’s wrong with an Arkansas lottery is the thing that is wrong with every other state lottery. The state robs from the poor through the most regressive tax possible. And while we should support education, sending kids to college with money that should be buying groceries for poor families is abhorrent and repugnant.
Here are a few quotes from others about lotteries.
David Waters, a columnist for the Memphis Commercial Appeal: “For every jackpot winner, there will be millions of lottery losers. The biggest losers will be the poor suckers who get hooked. Most of them will be our poorer and less educated neighbors who will buy the most tickets. The astronomical odds of hitting the jackpot won’t seem any worse to them than the odds they face every day. So they will gladly spend the rent money, the utility money, the bread money for one chance in a million to get out of the inner city or the outer limits of rural areas.”
Dave Ramsey, syndicated financial talk show host: “People play the lottery with money they otherwise would have spent with the small business owners who run the furniture stores, the markets, the show stores, the restaurants and so on. The lottery is a direct competitor with small businesses for people’s discretionary income. Worse yet, it is run by the state, and that puts the government in competition with small business. That’s just wrong.”
Barrett Duke, vice president for research for the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission: “The government should not put itself in a place where it is preying on people’s weaknesses.”
Howard Dayton, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries: “Gambling is a method by which a person thinks he or she can get rich quick without having to earn the wealth by labor. Solomon said, ‘There is profit in all hard work, but endless talk leads only to poverty’ (Prov. 14:23). Attaining wealth by enticing someone to gain money at the certain loss of another violates every principle taught by Jesus. In short, gambling is deceptive and sinful. It promotes and breeds selfishness, greed and covetousness….Citizens of one state spend an average of $1.5 billion annually on lottery tickets. They could have spent that money in local businesses, placed it in investment vehicles or deposited it in savings…. It is estimated that since 1990 more than half of that state’s lottery ticket sales came from customers whose income is near or below the recognized poverty level.”
J. Emmett Henderson, Georgia Baptist Convention office of ethics and public affairs: “For the poor, lottery is not harmless entertainment. It is a desperate but vain attempt to survive. But the odds of winning are so cruel—roughly 13 million to one is typical for state lotteries throughout America—that lottery turns out to be theft by consent. Almost all players lose money.”
Arkansas Baptists, the lottery is a bad bet. Let’s defeat it once again.
This article is reprinted from the August 21, 2008, issue of the Arkansas Baptist News, the newsjournal of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.
The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission works to educate Americans about the growing crisis of gambling addiction and supports legislation that would help protect citizens from falling into this dangerous trap. To learn more about this important issue, additional resources are available here. If your church is interested in purchasing bulletin inserts or other materials on gambling, please visit our online bookstore and erlc.com.
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1 On Oct 14th, 2008, at 1:10pm, Ronnie wrote:
Thanks for this article. Thanks for the clear message to Christians about what is wrong with the lottery or other forms of gambling. I agree with the idea that the desire behind any form of gambling is an attempt to forgo the curse of fallen man to have to work for a living, to have to work by the sweat of his brow as opposed to easy gain. In an environment where many Christians believe that gambling is harmless within certain limits, thanks for reminding us of the cruel realities.