Unfavorable Odds

1 Timothy 6:10

Introduction

In 2018, the governor of New Jersey sued the NCAA, challenging a law against betting on sports.

Later that year, Draft Kings became the first online sportsbook.

Since then 32 states have followed suit and apps and websites have followed in droves to cash in on the new source of profit.

No longer is a bookie some shady character that you have to find out about from your shady co-worker, you will be supplied with links and phone numbers every time you turn on a sporting event, or watch Sports Center, or open an app to check the score.

You can bet on the outcome of the game, how many receptions your favorite wide receiver will get, the color of the gatorade dumped on the winning coach, and on the over/under of how long the national anthem will take to sing (90.5 sec.).

Gambling has become like pornography in that all of the old constraints have been removed and now it can be accessed anywhere, anytime.

And if you are worried about the money, no worries, they will help you out by making regular offers of “free money” to get you started.

The apps are more sophisticated in their algorithms than even the casinos. They are very good at coaching you to believe all of the gamblers fallacies.

Oh you were so close.

You lost a few times, that means you are bound to win the next one,

You won! You’re not lucky, you’re just really skilled at this.

So, there is a growing epidemic that I am afraid we will see explode into our homes and our churches in similar ways to pornography.

I don’t want to be caught flat-footed on this one by making the same assumptions that “our folks won’t have an issue with that.”

Building a Case

The Bible does not make an explicit case against gambling (cf. Ecc. 11:1-6; Matt. 25:26-27).

It does tell us how to think about money (1 Tim. 6:9-10; Prov. 13:11; 28:20-22; Ecc. 5:10; 1 Cor. 6:19; Col. 3:17).

How to think in terms of wanting it.

How to think in terms of getting it.

How to think in terms of who it belongs to.

It tell us how to think of other people’s money (Mark 12:31; Phil. 2:3-4).

This includes taking their money in a lottery.

They must lose for me to win.

It tells us how to think about time and chance (Prov. 16:33; Acts 1:26; Job 6:27; Jn. 19:24; Ecc. 9:11).

Is this about putting my trust in God?

No Moral Neutrality

“But it’s just for fun” (Ecc. 11:9).

“It adds an element of excitement” (Acts 20:35).

You have tapped out the excitement of this entertainment and want to increase the intensity.

You want skin in the game.

Maybe go invest skin in the reality of life. Invest in something profitable and be motivated to see that investment succeed instead of sitting on the sidelines looking for lazy thrills.

“I can afford to lose” (Lk. 6:34-35).

Then go invest in someone.

Lend them money to help start a business knowing you might lose it all.

Invest in your own family.

You are cultivating a taste in your heart (1 Tim. 6:10).

You are increasing loves and dulling others.

What virtue is cultivated here.

You are fooling yourself if you think there is some virtue here.

Conclusion

Make the affirmative case for this in the presence of your Lord. Tell Him what you are doing with His blessings.

In truth, you are, at best, playing with fire, and at worst cultivating a thoughtlessness of God and of your fellow man.

I want everything in my life to be submitted to God. You will find nothing in God’s word to commend this and a great deal to connect it to folly and sin.

If your best argument is that this only makes me a fool and not a sinner then you are in more trouble than you realize.

If this is already a habit for you, set it down along with every other worldly enticement at His feet and find far more satisfaction in Him than anything you hand over to Him.