Gambling is a risky action where a person plays games of chance for money. It’s a quick and easy way to try to get money. Notice the key word is try because success is very rare. Gambling requires minimal effort and the possibilities of payout are tantalizing, but, unfortunately, gambling very seldom provides significant returns on the time, energy and money put into it. The odds of winning it big are mathematically very small. Recently, a math teacher in the United States estimated the odds of winning the Powerball or Mega Millions lotteries at about 1 in 3 million! He says being struck by lightning is much more probable. (“What to know about playing the lottery [from a math professor who won]”, NBC, Bay Area). In the United States, a person has a 1 in 15,300 chance of being struck by lightning once in their lifetime. Still, people continue to buy lottery tickets on the off chance they might get lucky and win a huge sum of cash.

Biblical Principles

But what does the Bible say about gambling? Does God have any opinions on the practice? Does the Bible give us any principles on how to use our money effectively?

Browse: Is gambling one of the seven deadly sins?

The Bible does, in fact, include many verses dealing with money and finances. From those verses, we can easily draw five Biblical principles about how our money should earned and spent.

1) All Things Belong to God, Including Our Money

Many times, we think of the money we earn as completely ours. But, in reality, the opposite is true. God created us and gives us life. Therefore, all that we are and all that we think we own really belong to the God who created us. "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it" (Psalms 24:1, NIV, emphasis supplied). Even our money belongs to God. “‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the LORD of hosts” (Haggai 2:8).

This principle should make us think twice about how to spend our money or even how to earn money. If our money belongs to God, then how we earn it and how we spend it should always glorify the good God who gives it to us.

2) The Love of Money Can Be Dangerous

Notice that the title doesn’t say money is dangerous, but that the love of money can be dangerous. When humans put their desire to obtain riches over and above other things in life, and over their love for God, danger is inevitable. Some people are willing to steal, lie, or even kill to obtain more money. The love of money creates jealousy and competition among people, even friends, as each tries to scramble to the top of the money-making mountain. Paul in writing to young Timothy rightly warns, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Spending time gambling at casinos, using slot machines, betting on races or sports, playing card games for cash, or participating in online gaming for money can waste the funds that God gives us. Even just buying one lottery ticket a day for a year could cost you more than $800 every year! Most lottery participants buy many more than one ticket at a time, so they are effectively wasting thousands of dollars a year without realizing it!

Gambling also tends to create addictions that lead to neglecting life responsibilities and even the care of family. Winning hard, cold cash can become so important to a gambling addict that every other human relationship fades into the background. More importantly, winning is not assured or even likely. Most gambling endeavors end in disaster as the person loses even more money than they put in to begin with. Still, small wins may encourage a gambler to keep going, to keep betting, because surely the big jackpot is just around the corner! However, the much more likely losses can lead to increasing debt, loss of property and home, and often lead to familial distrust and disfunction. Many gamblers are continually looking over their shoulders for the creditors that follow them relentlessly demanding to be paid for missed payments or for delinquent debts.

But, most importantly, the desire for more and more money can blunt a person’s desire to know and love his or her Creator, which can have eternal consequences. Mark writes, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, NKJV).

3) Work Is a Blessing

God actually gave work to humankind as a blessing. Adam and Eve were given the job of tending the beautiful garden of Eden that they called home. Even living in perfection, God recognized that perfect human beings still needed employment. Having a job to do gave them purpose, exercise, and happiness, while also keeping them out of temptation’s way.

Russel Honoré, a 3-star general in the U.S. Army, spoke of how his father always reminded him that work was a blessing. He says he never realized how true those words were until, during his career, he saw firsthand what unemployment could do to people. Without a job, he saw people stripped of their dignity, their purpose in life, and their freedom to provide for their families and to be participating members of society. This is when he realized that work brought freedom, freedom to do and be all the things that were denied unemployed people. Work was, indeed, a blessing.

Some people may argue that gambling is a kind of work. It is true that there is a certain expertise and technique involved in what professional gamblers do. And yet, even most professional gamblers lose money consistently and frequently. Jim Makos, a former professional online gambler, states that 90% of gamblers fail. Only about 1-5% are winners. Casinos and gambling operators take in the other 5% money gained. Jim says that the only ones who really make a profit from gambling are the big companies that run gambling enterprises, like casinos and online gaming businesses. He now runs an online business in advertising that does not have the potential to make as much money as his former gambling profession, but that also does not have the protentional for such significant losses. The returns are much more consistent and predictable, and, as a bonus, it is much easier to run. Whereas with gambling, he stopped making money as soon as he shut down his laptop, now he marvels that his online business makes money for him even while he sleeps! (“Gambling Secrets: The Hard Truth Behind Making Money Gambling”). Jim Makos definitely learned to see work as a blessing!

King David lived more than 3,000 years ago, but he also came to appreciate the truth of work as a blessing, “For you shall eat the fruit of [the labor of] your hands, You will be happy and blessed and it will be well with you.” (Psalm 128:2, AMP).

4) More Money Does Not Bring Satisfaction

Many people feel that they will be content with just a little more money or maybe with a lot more money. But that thought is deceiving. The love of money is such that it is never satisfied. King Solomon, arguably the richest man in the history of the world, had it all and yet was not satisfied with all that he possessed. He wrote, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity [or pointlessness]" (Ecclesiastes 5:10, NASB).

God is a good God. He knows what will make us happy even better than we do ourselves. He knows that money will never fill the deep desire we have for Him and for His presence. “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you'” (Hebrews 13:5). God has so many great things planned for us if we make Him first and most important in our lives. When we desire Him, our other desires will change. We will desire what He desires for us. He promises, "Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalms 37:4).

5) Money Is the Not the Most Important Thing

Jesus warned against thinking that money and things that money can buy are most important. He said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions” (Luke 12:15). There are more important things than money and the possessions that money can buy.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” He knows that our hearts and emotions and will-power and strength will all go toward the things that are most important to us. If our hearts are dedicated toward earning money or playing games so that we can get money more easily, then we will start to neglect more important things like relationships, family, our physical health, our mental and emotional balance, and especially our relationship with God.

If you have done these things, dear reader, do not despair! God has promised to take away the shame and guilt of past practices if you look to Him for salvation and renewal. He says, “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces" (Psalm 34:5, NLT). And, besides that, God has promised to give you the most amazing joy, contentment and happiness imaginable. "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore" (Psalm 16:11).

Conclusion

So, we see from the preceding biblical principles that gambling and the love of money are dangerous both for our earthly and heavenly futures. More than anything else, God yearns for us to put Him first in everything, even in our financial habits. Doing so will lead to many blessings from God’s hand. Relationships will improve; families will be more stable and loving; even our finances will be more solid and secure. And even more than those blessings, God will give us the blessing of hope. A hope for something better in the future, something eternal and lasting and forever. He has positive plans for our future. “‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope’” (Jeremiah 29:11, NASB).

And that hope brings joy and peace to our lives so that we can have even more hope!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).

How would you like to be overflowing with hope for the future? Give God your life. Let Him guide your financial decisions. He will give you even more than you hoped for. He loves you that much!