What the Bible Says About Gambling

This page asks what God’s Word says about gambling, from the lottery ticket to the betting app on your phone. If gambling has a hold on you and you cannot stop, read the part for you first. If you have lost money that was not yours to lose, read Pardon for What You Lost. If you are the husband, wife, or parent of someone who gambles, there is a word for you at the end. If the losses have brought you to thoughts of ending your life, call 988 or text 988 now, and read the page on getting safe.

Where Scripture Speaks and Where It Is Silent

We should be honest from the start. No verse in the Bible says, Thou shalt not gamble. Anyone who tells you otherwise is saying more than God said.

But Scripture is not silent about money, about the heart that craves it, or about the neighbor whose loss becomes our gain. The Confession says the whole counsel of God is either expressly set down in Scripture or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from it (WCF 1.6). So we answer this question the way we answer most questions of daily life. We ask what the commandments require and forbid, and we apply them with care.

The Larger Catechism did exactly that. In its long list of sins against the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, it names gaming among them.

covetousness; inordinate prizing and affecting worldly goods; distrustful and distracting cares and studies in getting, keeping, and using them; envying at the prosperity of others; as likewise idleness, prodigality, wasteful gaming; and all other ways whereby we do unduly prejudice our own outward estate, and defrauding ourselves of the due use and comfort of that estate which God hath given us.

Westminster Larger Catechism Q&A 142

Notice the word wasteful. The Catechism does not say every game is a sin. It sets wasteful gaming beside idleness and prodigality, which means throwing money away, and it counts them as ways of robbing ourselves and our households of what God gave us. That is a theft too, even if no one else’s wallet is touched. For the whole commandment in plain words, see the Ten Commandments.

The Heart That Hastes to Be Rich

The tenth commandment goes beneath our hands to our desires.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

Exodus 20:17 (KJV)

Gambling feeds on the wish to have much without waiting and without working. Solomon warned against that wish.

A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent.

Proverbs 28:20 (KJV)

He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye, and considereth not that poverty shall come upon him (Proverbs 28:22). Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished, but he that gathereth by labour shall increase (Proverbs 13:11). Vanity there means emptiness, gain that comes from nothing. God’s way is slower, and it runs through labor.

But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 (KJV)

A snare is a hunter’s trap, set with bait. The picture is a figure, and the trap it pictures is real. Men are drowned by it, and their families with them.

What Is in Your Hand Is God’s

The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof (Psalm 24:1). Your paycheck is his, and you hold it as a steward, and it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2). He gives it to feed your family, to pay what you owe, and to give to him that needeth (Ephesians 4:28). Staking it on a roll or a game hands what belongs to him over to chance. For more, read What the Bible Says About Money and Debt.

Gain From Your Neighbor’s Loss

God’s law knows a few honest ways for goods to pass from one man to another. You may work for them, trade something of worth for them, or receive them as a gift. Gambling is none of these. The winner does no work and gives nothing in exchange. In a lottery, the prize is simply the other players’ losses gathered up. It comes to him only because others lost, and he wanted them to.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Romans 13:10 (KJV)

To hope another man loses his rent so that you can have it is not love, even if he played freely. The Catechism asks us to further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own (WLC 141). Gambling turns that upside down.

Lotteries, Apps, and the House

Most gambling today is not a game between friends. It is a business. Every casino, lottery, and betting site sets its odds so that, over time, the players as a whole lose more than they win. That is not bad luck. It is the design.

Look at who buys lottery tickets, and anyone can see it. The lottery draws hardest on those who have the least, because it sells the hope of a way out to people who feel they have none. A government that lives off that hope is feeding on its weakest citizens. Rob not the poor, because he is poor (Proverbs 22:22). He that oppresseth the poor to increase his riches shall surely come to want (Proverbs 22:16).

Sports betting apps and online casinos never close. They live in your pocket. They offer free bets to start, so you learn the habit before you spend your own money. They make losing feel like nearly winning. They send offers during the game and at midnight. They are not built to entertain you. They are built to keep you.

Lots, Raffles, and Friendly Bets

Casting Lots in Scripture

Some say the Bible approves of gambling because God’s people cast lots. But look at what they were doing.

The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

Proverbs 16:33 (KJV)

The lot was a way of asking God to decide what men could not settle. When the apostles needed a man to take Judas’s place, they prayed, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, and the lot fell upon Matthias (Acts 1:24-26). Even the heathen sailors in Jonah’s ship cast lots to learn who had brought the storm (Jonah 1:7). No one staked money. They were seeking an answer, not a prize, so the lot is no defense of gambling.

Scripture does show one group casting lots for gain. At the foot of the cross the soldiers gambled for the coat of the dying Christ (John 19:23-24). They wanted a prize. He was giving his life.

The Larger Catechism says lots are to be used holily and reverently, and it lists sinful lots among the sins of the third commandment (WLC 112-113). Some Puritans warned that to play at lots is to treat God’s providence lightly. Others, such as Thomas Gataker, who later sat in the Westminster Assembly, held that a lot used in play is no such appeal to God. Faithful men differed on that point.

Small Bets and Raffles

What about a dollar bet with a friend on a ballgame, or a raffle ticket at a school fundraiser? Here we must not invent rules that God has not given. Rolling dice in a board game where nothing changes hands is not gambling at all. Beyond that, faithful Christians differ. Some will stake nothing, however small, because they see the same root in a dollar as in a thousand. Others think a friendly wager, with no one hurt and nothing coveted, is not the wasteful gaming the Catechism means. Some churches will not hold raffles, wanting gifts to be given freely and not bought with a chance to win. Others see a raffle as a gift with a small token attached.

Where Scripture is not plain, ask honest questions before God. Am I hoping to get something for nothing? Would I be glad to see my friend lose? Could this be a first step for someone weaker, or for me? Whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23). Paul said, All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any (1 Corinthians 6:12). If even a small bet stirs a hunger you cannot easily put down, leave it alone entirely.

When Gambling Has Hold of You

For some, gambling is not a question of liberty. It is a chain. You tell yourself one more bet will win it back. You hide the statements. You borrow, then lie about why. Maybe the rent is gone, or the savings. This is real, and it ruins families. Trust breaks, and honest men become liars.

Christ came for people exactly where you are. God is faithful, Paul says, and with the temptation he will also make a way to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). But you will not get out alone, or by trying harder in secret.

1. Confess it. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Proverbs 28:13). Tell God, then your husband or wife and your pastor or an elder, the whole truth, including how much.
2. Cut off access. Jesus said, If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out (Matthew 5:29). The eye is a figure, and what it pictures is real, a costly cutting off of whatever leads you into sin. Delete the apps today and close the accounts. Many states and betting sites let you ban yourself. Ask your bank whether it can block gambling payments.
3. Give someone else control of the money. Hand your cards and accounts to your spouse or a trusted brother for a season. This is not shame. It is wisdom.
4. Find accountability. Ask a few believers to ask you plainly and often whether you have gambled. Mortify lets you link with brethren from your church and fight covetousness and the love of money together. For the long fight itself, read A Greater Affection.
5. See a doctor. God works through means. A doctor can treat the depression and anxiety that so often come with this, and can point you to further help.
6. Lean on the church. Tell the deacons if your family needs help with food or rent. Let the elders help you make a plan for your debts, and read When Debt Has You Under. Do not borrow to chase what you lost.

If the debts and the shame have you thinking your family would be better off without you, that is a lie. They would not. Call 988 or text 988 now, and tell someone near you tonight.

Pardon for What You Lost

Maybe what you lost was not yours. It was the family’s savings, or money from an employer, a client, or a church. The guilt is heavy because the wrong is real, and this page will not tell you it was nothing. But your sin is not bigger than the blood of Christ.

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:

1 Peter 1:18-19 (KJV)

You could never buy back your soul with money, and you do not have to. Christ paid with his own blood, and he rose again on the third day. Turn from your sin to him. Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:7). If you do not yet know him, read the gospel, and come.

Pardon from God does not end your duty to those you wronged. When Zacchaeus met Jesus, he said, If I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold (Luke 19:8). He did not pay to be forgiven. He paid back because he had been. God’s law required the guilty man to restore what he took and add a fifth part (Numbers 5:7), and the Catechism names restitution among the duties of the eighth commandment (WLC 141). If you took from an employer, confess it, even if it costs you the job. Make a plan with your elders to repay, little by little if you must. Some of what was lost may never be repaid. God knows that, and his pardon is no less full.

Contentment and the Treasure No Wager Can Buy

The cure for the gambler’s hunger is not a smaller hunger. It is a better treasure. Paul wrote from prison.

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:11-13 (KJV)

Contentment is learned. It does not come in a jackpot. It rests on a promise. Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:32-33). The gambler is always trying to secure tomorrow by luck. The believer has a Father who has already promised it, and who has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus told of a man who found treasure hid in a field. For joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field (Matthew 13:44). The treasure in the story is a picture, and what it pictures is real. Christ and his kingdom are worth more than everything you own. Yet no wager can win him, and no money can buy him, because he gives himself freely. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money (Isaiah 55:1). Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Whoever has him has already gained what the whole world cannot give.

What to Do This Week

1. Look honestly at your own money. Add up what went to tickets, apps, and bets in the last year, and bring the number to God.
2. If it has a hold on you, act today. Follow the steps above. Do not wait for Monday.
3. Pray for contentment. Pray Agur’s prayer, Give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me (Proverbs 30:8).
4. Give. Put something in the offering this Lord’s Day, or into a needy hand. Giving loosens money’s grip on the heart.
5. A word to husbands and wives. If your spouse gambles, it is not your fault, and covering for it will not fix it. Do not quietly pay the debts and keep the secret. Protect what your household needs to live on, in a separate account if you must. Go to your elders together, or alone if he will not come. If the lying has turned to threats or violence, get safe first. Love him enough to let him face what he has done.
6. A word to parents. Your children are being taught to bet before they can drive. The ads come with every game, and some video games sell paid chances at prizes that work much the same way. Talk about it plainly, and show them how the house wins. Let them see you content with what God gives, and see you give. For more, read What the Bible Says About Raising Children.
7. In the church, welcome the one who is fighting. Someone near you may be hiding this. Let him hear that there is mercy in Christ and help in his people.