Gambling

A brief Seventh-day Adventist perspective

Gambling is a curse because the cost of associated crime, victim support and family breakdown damages the quality of life.

Is winning at the expense of others an appropriate form of entertainment and a legitimate means of raising money?

Seventh-day Adventists oppose gambling. We see it as incompatible with Christian principles because:

1. Gambling impacts negatively on society
The cost of associated crime, victim support and family breakdown damages the quality of life.

2. Gambling is addictive
Adventists seek to help, not blame, those suffering from gambling. We recognise they are responsible before God for their resources and lifestyle.

3. Gambling clouds the sense of responsibility
Gambling takes from those who often cannot afford to lose and gives to those who can, including the greatest winner, the gambling operator.

4. Gambling creates false hopes
"Winning big" is statistically improbable. Christians are not to put their hope in wealth.

The Adventist Church rejects all forms of gambling, including raffles and lotteries, and will not solicit or accept funding from it. The church also calls on all authorities to prevent the increasing availability of gambling.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church released a full statement on gambling in 2000.

In addition, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific also released the following statement in 2005.

All business investment includes some element of risk ranging from reasonably secure to extremely speculative.

A fine line exists between business risk and gambling.

High risk in business is often referred to as gambling and there are compulsive risk takers in business just as there are compulsive gamblers. However, in business, high return on an investment is not necessarily predicated on the losses of other investors.

Thus, while risk-taking in business may be a questionable stewardship of God-given assets and a violation of Biblical principles, it should not be directly equated with gambling.