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BY ALONZO GASKILL
While the word “gamble” never appears in the Bible, a common biblical phrase that implies a sort of “game of chance” (akin to “gambling”) is the “casting of lots.” (See, for example, KJV Psalm 22:18; Joel 3:3; Obadiah 1:11; Jonah 1:7; Nahum 3:10; Matthew 27:35; Luke 23:34; John 19:24) Motivations, akin to what draws people to Vegas or Atlantic City today, are present in the Bible, causing various biblical figures to engage in the equivalent of gambling. As a result, a handful of verses speak to God’s overarching concerns about the dangers of gambling.
In the Ten Commandments, God (through His prophet, Moses) commanded His people: “Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.” (CEV Exodus 20:17) Of course, at the heart of gambling is the “desire” or “lust” for money and the things which it can buy. Consequently, not only does one of the Ten Commandments tell us to suppress such desires, but Jesus reminded us: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (NIV Matthew 6:21) In other words, Jesus knew that if we allowed our hearts to get fixated on “things,” we would treasure those more than we treasure God or His ways. Thus, He stressed the need to love God more than the things of this corrupt world. Most will be familiar with a rather famous statement about money, found in Paul’s first epistle to Timothy. The King James Version translates the verse, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” (KJV 1 Timothy 6:10) The Contemporary English Version renders it slightly different:
“The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.” Aside from the grave risk of indebtedness, one of the biggest problems with gambling is that the winnings become one’s “god,” and many will make any sacrifice they have to in order to access that false god.....
https://www.patheos.com/answers/bible-perspectives/what-does-the-bible-say-about-gambling