Introduction: Lotteries are the most-played form of legalized gambling in the U.S. In fiscal year 1997, Americans wagered 5.8 billion on lotteries-about $135 for every man, woman, and child in the nation. While state lotteries have the worst odds of any common form of gambling (the odds of winning the typical state lottery are about one in 12-14 million) they also offer the largest payoffs, with prizes regularly totaling tens, and recently hundreds, of millions of dollars. And now this insidious form of gambling is being proposed for us in Alabama.  How concerned should we be?  Where should we stand on the issue? 

I. Gambling is a sin --Gambling is a specific kind of risk taking - putting up money or its equivalent on a chance with the intent of taking another's money without providing him any goods or services. Gamblers violate God's will on...

  A. Covetousness and the love of money, Romans 13:9; Colossians 3:5; Luke 12:13-15; 1 Timothy 6:9-10; Hebrews 13:5

  B. Stealing, Ephesians 4:28

  C. Stewardship, 1 Corinthians 4:2; 1 Peter 4:10

  D. Worldliness, 1 John 2:15-17; James 4:4

  E. Addiction, 2 Peter 2:19

1. According to the Georgia DHR, there are at least 8,400 Georgia adolescents who are addicted to gambling.   Another 39,000 are at risk of becoming problem gamblers.  Even though legalized gambling has only been in Georgia since 1993, the Georgia DHR estimates that 2.3 percent of the state's adult population could be classified as problem gamblers, at a cost to the state of $221 million a year.

2. Harvard researchers don't think adolescents will quit gambling, and a state lottery in Alabama won't help matters. The researchers predict an additional 5.7 million teenagers are at risk of becoming problem gamblers

3. Gambling is compulsive, addictive and progressive. Eight-five percent of the nation's young people are already gambling on everything from card games to sports teams to casinos and lotteries. Fifteen percent of these have been shown to be problem or pathological gamblers. ..the gambling industry and its allies in government work together to cultivate betting habits in the next generation. In South Carolina, children have ready access to 30,000 video poker machines located in convenience stores, pizza parlors and bowling alleys. (from the congressional National Gambling Impact Study Commission report, June 18, 1999).

4. The negative effects of this addiction are seen in the personal lives of gamblers: In one study of Gamblers Anonymous attendees, 47 percent said they had considered suicide, and 13 percent said they had actually attempted it. Similar studies of compulsive gamblers in New Jersey, Wisconsin and Illinois report that 18 percent of the gamblers in those states have attempted suicide.

  F. Some would say 'it's just recreation" but Proverbs 10:23,  "To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has wisdom."

II. Encouraging, consenting to, or voting for sin is a sin

 A. Ephesians 5:5-7, 11

 B. Psalms 50:16-18,  "But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to declare My statutes, Or take My covenant in your mouth, {17} Seeing you hate instruction And cast My words behind you? {18} When you saw a thief, you consented with him, And have been a partaker with adulterers."

 C. Romans 1:32,  "who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them." [Note that "covetousness" and "inventors of evil things" are in the list of sins mentioned here]

III. Unmasking Satan's Lies About Gambling -- 2 Corinthians 2:11,  "lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices."  Satan wants us to believe the following lies about gambling:

 A. States Profit Financially from Lotteries

1. Mark Thornton, an economics professor at Auburn University says Alabama is too poor and does not have a population large enough to sustain a lottery that nets more than $65-72 million a year. Some gambling analysts estimate the social price Alabama will pay from a legal lottery may be higher than any benefits it might receive. 

2. Denis Rudd, author of a college textbook, Casino and Gaming Operations (1996) says that most gambling produces economic gains, but inflicts offsetting social cost. Among the social costs are gambling addiction, increases in the number of crimes and revenue losses in other industries.

 B. Lotteries Increase Money States Spend on Education -- Fifteen states use lottery money specifically for education. But some experts contend that lotteries don't increase education spending overall. Instead, many states use lottery money in place of other state revenues used for schools. Jill Lawrence, "Politicians Roll the Dice on Gambling," USA Today, July 20, 1998.

 C. Lotteries Benefit the Poor -- According to statistics from Georgia State University, those who make less than $25,000 a year are more likely to play the lottery than those who make more than $75,000 a year. And when they play, the poor spend more than three times as much on lottery tickets than the upper-middle class as a proportion of income.  But those who have received scholarships from the Georgia program are not poor. Data from 1994-1995 show the average family income was 40 percent higher among scholarship recipients than the state average. 

 D. Lotteries benefit the general economy -- The lottery encourages people to gamble money that they otherwise would have spent at pre-existing businesses. In California, one entire chain of grocery stores recently quit selling lottery tickets altogether. The general manager of the chain discovered the stores were losing about $1.00 in food sales for every $1.00 of lottery tickets sold.

 E. Lotteries Benefit Children

1. Lotteries create family and social problems for children 

a. Child abuse increases dramatically when gambling comes into an area, according to a study done by Maryland's attorney general.

b. The Gamblers Anonymous survey revealed that 10 percent of gamblers' children were abused by the gambler; 25 percent of children had significant behavioral problems such as poor school work, running away, drugs, alcohol or gambling of their own; and 50 percent of spouses said they were physically or verbally abused by the gambler.

2. Lotteries encourage children to become compulsive, addicted gamblers.

a. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has indicated that gambling activity among that state's students is second only to alcohol in prevalence among illegal youth activity. Almost 70 percent of seventh graders have bought lottery tickets, according to the study.

b. In Indiana, 90 percent of minors have gambled, with 65 percent of those youth playing scratch-off lottery games.

c. According to a Harvard Medical School study, at least 75 percent of all high school students have gambled. So many teenagers are gambling that almost four percent (more than 2.2 million adolescents) are already addicted to gambling.

d. In several states I've traveled in holding gospel meetings this year (Virginia, Michigan, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Indiana) I've had the experience of going into a convenience store or gas station and being behind someone purchasing a lottery ticket.  What affect will it have on our children to see this day in and day out?

Conclusion: Gambling by the lottery is sin.  Supporting a lottery is sin.  Be not deceived!