According to a March 31 Baptist Press story, “The percentage of Americans who play the lottery has dropped significantly in recent years while the percentage who visit casinos has risen slightly, a Gallup poll shows. The poll suggests that for the first time since Gallup began asking the question, a majority of Americans aren’t playing the lottery.

“Specifically, 49 percent of Americans say they haven’t bought a lottery ticket in the past year, while 51 percent say they have. The data reflects an 8-percentage point swing from 1999, when 57 percent of Americans said they had played the lottery and 43 percent said they hadn’t. In 1996, 57 percent of those polled said they had played the lottery; in 1992 it was 56 percent.

“But the news isn’t all good for gambling foes. Thirty percent of Americans say they have visited a casino within the past year – an increase from 1996 when it was 27 percent and from 1992 when it was 21 percent. Seventy percent of those polled say they have not visited a casino.”

There is one piece of good news: “Churchgoers are less likely to gamble. Seventy-four percent of those who seldom or never attend church say they’ve gambled in the past year, compared to 52 percent of those who attend church weekly.”

 


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There are now 1,800 web sites dedicated to online gambling, up from 25 in 1997. Americans will lose $3 billion on Internet gambling this year.

(The American Enterprise, Jan-Feb 2004, p. 6.)

 


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In the 12/18/03 issue of Sightings, Andrew Weaver and Christopher G. Ellison report that, “In 1988, only two states had large-scale casino gambling; now 27 states have it. Thirty-seven states operate a lottery, and some form of gambling is legal in 48 states. Advertisements for online gambling sites appear all over the internet. There are 280 Web sites that offer online gambling for real money. Online betters gamble at the rate of about 10 billion dollars a year and it is growing fast.

“Problem gambling’s impact on families and youth is only beginning to be understood. For example, adult problem gamblers are more likely to divorce, have destabilized families, drink excessively and use drugs, abuse their wives and children, suffer depression, and attempt suicide. The children of problem gamblers are more likely to do poorly in school; use illicit drugs, tobacco, and alcohol; run away; attempt suicide; indicate they are unhappy; and take up gambling than children from non-gambling families. Three out of four children of problem gamblers report that their first gambling experience occurred before age 11. This is the first generation of American children to have grown up in a society where gambling has been widely legalized, accepted, marketed, and glamorized.

“As gambling proliferates, it increases the exposure of children to gambling and their vulnerability to the addiction. Increasingly, the market-savvy gambling industry is pushing the concept of “Family Entertainment Centers,” which include places for adults to gamble while their children engage in other entertainment. The aim of the gambling industry is to create the next generation of gamblers from the children who watch their parents get excited by gambling. Researchers at Harvard Medical School reviewed nine studies of 7,700 young people, ages 15-20, in the United States and Canada. They found that 9.9 to 14.2 percent displayed problems in gambling and 4.4 to 7.4 percent met the diagnostic criteria for “pathological gambling” disorder. These figures are two to three times greater than those reported among adults.”

(Sightings comes from the Martin Marty Center at the University of Chicago Divinity School.)


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A 2002 regional survey by the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems (DCGP) found that more than 30 percent of all high school students gamble periodically,” according to a July 22 story in Agape Press news service. “And the evidence indicates that gambling is a problem not only among older teens in high school, but among younger students as well. The study found that 43 percent of eighth-grade boys and 19 percent of eighth grade girls gamble.

“The council’s deputy director, Linda Graves, says these children are among the first generation in America to grow up with gambling as an acceptable part of the culture. Because of a change in societal attitudes toward gambling in the past 20 years, parents and grandparents are more apt to engage young people in gambling activities. Graves says many young people who get involved with gambling are mimicking adult behavior…

“An eighth grader [who] gambles is 50 percent more likely to drink alcohol, three times more likely to use marijuana or other illegal drugs, and three times more likely to get into trouble with the police, get involved with gang violence, or steal or shoplift,” Graves says.


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Many Americans must have wondered what all the William Bennett gambling fuss was all about, if you can believe Gallup’s most recent annual survey on America’s values and beliefs. That survey indicates that most Americans don’t see gambling as inconsistent with moral living. The survey shows that 63 percent of Americans believe gambling is morally acceptable, while just 35 percent think it is morally
wrong. According to a story in Newsweek, more than five million U.S. residents spend $6 billion gambling online per year. Projections indicate that will increase to more than six million people and $12 billion a year in Internet casino coffers by 2006.

(Statistics from The Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, May 16, 2003)


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According to a March 31, 2003 Baptist Press story, “The percentage of Americans who play the lottery has dropped significantly in recent years while the percentage who visit casinos has risen slightly, a Gallup poll shows. The poll suggests that for the first time since Gallup began asking the question, a majority of Americans aren’t playing the lottery.

“Specifically, 49 percent of Americans say they haven’t bought a lottery ticket in the past year, while 51 percent say they have. The data reflects an 8-percentage point swing from 1999, when 57 percent of Americans said they had played the lottery and 43 percent said they hadn’t. In 1996, 57 percent of those polled said they had played the lottery; in 1992 it was 56 percent.

“But the news isn’t all good for gambling foes. Thirty percent of Americans say they have visited a casino within the past year – an increase from 1996 when it was 27 percent and from 1992 when it was 21 percent. Seventy percent of those polled say they have not visited a casino.”

There is one piece of good news: “Churchgoers are less likely to gamble. Seventy-four percent of those who seldom or never attend church say they’ve gambled in the past year, compared to 52 percent of those who attend church weekly.”


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In the March 4, 2003edition of his weblog, Albert Mohler notes that, “According to some estimates, as much as one-third of the nation’s money supply now moves through the gambling industry each year. Looking at a recent annual economic report, management consultant Eugene M. Christiansen determined that ‘Americans spent more on gambling than they did on health insurance, dentists, shoes, foreign travel, or household appliances.’

“The Bible is clear on this issue. The entire enterprise of gambling is opposed to the moral worldview revealed in God’s Word. The basic impulse behind gambling is greed – a basic sin that is the father of many other evils. Greed, covetousness, and avarice are repeatedly addressed by Scripture – always presented as a sin against God, and often accompanied by a graphic warning of the destruction which is greed’s result. The burning desire for earthly riches leads to frustration and spiritual death.

“As the Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, ‘the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil’ (1 Tim. 6:10). Greed was involved in Judas’ decision to betray Christ, in the deceit of Ananias and Sapphira, and was the root moral issue in the Rich Young Ruler’s refusal to follow Christ’s command.

“In the wisdom literature of the Old Testament, greed is presented as foolishness, and Jesus amplifies this teaching in His parable of the rich man [Luke 12:16-21]. Trusting in his economic prosperity, and planning to build even bigger barns to hoard his wealth, the man is called to account by God, who said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you.’ This is not likely to be found as a popular inspirational text at the local casino.

“The Bible presents the stewardship of material possessions as a crucial issue of discipleship. The Christian understands that his possessions and money are not his own, but God’s. We are trustees who will be judged for the quality of our stewardship. Those lottery tickets and trips to Atlantic City are going to be hard to explain when God calls stewards to account.”


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