Gambling is big business--Consider the following facts:

* Nearly all states allow some form of legalized "gaming." Many allow legal casinos and even more have a lottery. In addition, much gambling is still illegal.

* Americans gamble more money each year than they spend on groceries!

* In Mississippi more money is spent on betting than on all retail sales combined.

* 85% of young people have already become gamblers.

* Usually the people who gamble the most are the people who can afford it the least: the poor and the elderly.

[I Cited my statistics from Dr. James Dobson, who served on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, whose report was issued in 1999.]

With more researches conducted in this latest desperation.

The purpose of this study is to consider whether or not gambling is morally acceptable.
We hope to discuss what constitutes gambling and what the teaching of Jesus Christ says regarding its moral significance. Since the Bible is the highest moral standard ever known, and since it reveals the will of the God who created us all, we will appeal to it as the supreme standard (2 Tim. 3:16,17; 1 Cor. 14:37; John 17:17; Matt. 7:21-27).

Note: The following study was written primarily to warn people about the dangers of gambling.



What Gambling Is

A. Definition of Gambling
In this study "gambling" refers to a wager or bet in which each player agrees to risk losing some material possession to other players in exchange for the chance to win the possessions of other players without compensation to the loser, the winner(s) and loser(s) being determined by the outcome of a game.

Please note four essential elements of gambling in this definition:

1. A game of chance or skill - any event of uncertain outcome.
This may be a game the gamblers play among themselves or may be some event that would have occurred anyway (such as the outcome of an election or sports event).

2. The stakes
Each player places at risk some possession of material value.

3. The agreement (wager or bet)
Before the game each player agrees to risk losing his possession in exchange for the opportunity to take the possessions of others, depending on the outcome of the game.

4. Lack of fair compensation
No goods or services of fair value are given in exchange for what is lost. The loser will give up his possessions without being recompensed, and the winner will gain possessions without repaying the loser.



Activities That Are Not Gambling
People sometimes confuse the issue by claiming that certain acts are gambling, even though some essential elements of gambling are missing.

Crossing the street, driving a car
Some people say, "Everything in life involves a gamble." This confuses risk with gambling. Not all risks involve gambling. These acts involve no wager and no stakes. There is no agreement to try to take someone else's possessions.

Games without stakes or bets
The same games, on which people sometimes bet, can be played simply for fun with no possessions put at risk. This too is not gambling.

Farming, owning a business, etc.
Some say this is gambling because one risks losing money. But again there is no wager, but there is compensation. There is no agreement to take other people's property without compensation. The intent is to produce goods or services of benefit to others in exchange for that which benefits us. This is expressly authorized in Scripture.

Investing in stock
Some say this is gambling, but what is stock? Stock is a means for people to become part owners of a company. Buying stock is no more inherently gambling than is ownership of any other business. The intent is to make a profit by producing something of benefit to customers. Investors receive their share of these profits in the form of dividends or increases in the value of the stock.

Further, when stock is sold, both buyer and seller agree on the price. There is no wager - no prior agreement to risk loss at another's expense. If either thinks the price is unfair, they refuse to deal. (It may be possible to gamble or otherwise sin in the stock market, but buying stock does not inherently constitute gambling.)

Buying insurance
Some think insurance is gambling. But again, there is no wager and there is compensation. No one agrees to gain at the expense of someone else's loss. On the contrary, the whole purpose of insurance is to compensate the insured if he does have a loss (such as death, car wreck, hospitalization, etc.). If no such loss occurs, the customer has purchased the peace of mind of knowing he would have been compensated if he had experienced a loss. Regardless of whether or not this is a wise investment, the point here is that it is not gambling.

In short, none of these examples constitute gambling, since no one necessarily wants uncompensated losses to occur. But the gambler always wants financial loss to occur, because he hopes to profit from those losses.

READ MORE AT : https://jaysciencetech.com/2019/03/what-does-the-bible-say-about-gambling.html