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Originally Posted by CarolinaCalvinist  The guys at the Sinners and Saints podcast did a show about this recently. If you'd like to listen to it, you can find it here. They take the position that recreational gambling is acceptable for Christians but can be abused like anything else. |
I think there are two parts.
I agree that recreational gambling in moderation is an area of liberty. I'm not going to condemn a brother or sister for getting together with friends for a night of casual poker, conversation, etc., but I'd caution that it may incite greed. It's not my cup of tea, probably because in my pagan days I used to try it and usually lost.
But the other aspect is the government promotion of gambling. It sounds like there is a public initiative to improve the economy based upon making your area a gambling zone. That is wishful thinking of social engineers who want a quick fix. Publicly supported and regulated gambling is always zero-sum for an economy. That's because of the tax bite. There is nothing productive about it, in other words, it does not create wealth, it is just a money diverter.
Although I'm quite libertarian politically, I do think government has the responsibility to maintain an order that fosters responsibility on the part of its citizens. Promoting public gambling as an enhancement of the economy is the opposite of that because it seeks to obtain revenue on the basis of irrational greed.
It might attract money short term, but sooner or later the neighboring communities will do the same thing. Then there will be no "sin advantage" for your community. What will be next? Perhaps they will follow the Nevada approach and legalize prostitution.
The bottom line, I think, is that it is more like burning the house to keep it warm. That is the immoral part of it, the government is racing other governments in downgrading the community.