Catholic Gambling
Help |
| Catechism of the Catholic Church IntraText - Text |
- PART THREE: LIFE IN CHRIST
- SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
- CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
- Article 7 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
- II. Respect for Persons and Their Goods
- Article 7 THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
- CHAPTER TWO YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
- SECTION TWO THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Gambling, whether it involves games of chance (e.g. Card games), wagers or betting, or even lotteries, is not intrinsically evil (Catechism, no. However, a person may only engage in these activities with a strict adherence to virtue. Catholic Family Center Restart’s Outpatient Gambling Treatment Services are designed to enable and support individualized recovery from gambling addiction or a gambling and substance use problem. The goals of our program include: Establish and maintain abstinence from gambling; Create a support system that reinforces a gambling-free lifestyle. Claim: Casino tokens collected by Catholic churches in Las Vegas are sent to a monastery for sorting and redeemed by Franciscans known as “chip monks.” FALSE Example: Collected via e-mail, 1997. Gambling, whether it involves games of chance (e.g. Card games), wagers or betting, or even lotteries, is not intrinsically evil (Catechism, No. However, a person may only engage in these activities with a strict adherence to virtue. Today, however, gambling is generally considered a harmless pastime, dangerous only when indulged excessively, as reflected by the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Games of chance (card games, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice.
II. Respect for Persons and Their Goods
2407 In economicmatters, respect for humandignityrequires the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderateattachment to this world's goods; the practice of the virtue of justice, to preserve our neighbor's rights and render him what is his due; and the practice of solidarity, in accordance with the goldenrule and in keeping with the generosity of the Lord, who 'though he was rich, yet for your sake . . . became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich.'189
Respect for the goods of others
2408 The seventhcommandmentforbidstheft, that is, usurping another's property against the reasonable will of the owner. There is no theft if consent can be presumed or if refusal is contrary to reason and the universaldestination of goods. This is the case in obvious and urgentnecessity when the only way to provide for immediate, essentialneeds (food, shelter, clothing . . .) is to put at one's disposal and use the property of others.190
2409 Even if it does not contradict the provisions of civillaw, any form of unjustly taking and keeping the property of others is against the seventhcommandment: thus, deliberateretention of goodslent or of objectslost; businessfraud; payingunjustwages; forcing up prices by taking advantage of the ignorance or hardship of another.191
The following are also morallyillicit: speculation in which one contrives to manipulate the price of goodsartificially in order to gain an advantage to the detriment of others; corruption in which one influences the judgment of those who must make decisions according to law; appropriation and use for privatepurposes of the commongoods of an enterprise; workpoorly done; taxevasion; forgery of checks and invoices; excessiveexpenses and waste. Willfullydamagingprivate or publicproperty is contrary to the morallaw and requiresreparation.
2410Promises must be kept and contractsstrictlyobserved to the extent that the commitments made in them are morallyjust. A significantpart of economic and sociallifedepends on the honoring of contracts between physical or moralpersons - commercialcontracts of purchase or sale, rental or laborcontracts. All contracts must be agreed to and executed in goodfaith.
2411Contracts are subject to commutativejustice which regulatesexchanges between persons in accordance with a strictrespect for their rights. Commutativejusticeobligesstrictly; it requiressafeguardingpropertyrights, payingdebts, and fulfillingobligationsfreelycontracted. Without commutativejustice, no other form of justice is possible.
One distinguishescommutativejustice from legaljustice which concerns what the citizenowes in fairness to the community, and from distributivejustice which regulates what the communityowes its citizens in proportion to their contributions and needs.
2412 In virtue of commutativejustice, reparation for injusticecommittedrequires the restitution of stolengoods to their owner:
JesusblessesZacchaeus for his pledge: 'If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.'192 Those who, directly or indirectly, have takenpossession of the goods of another, are obliged to make restitution of them, or to return the equivalent in kind or in money, if the goods have disappeared, as well as the profit or advantages their owner would have legitimatelyobtained from them. Likewise, all who in some manner have takenpart in a theft or who have knowinglybenefited from it - for example, those who ordered it, assisted in it, or received the stolengoods - are obliged to make restitution in proportion to their responsibility and to their share of what was stolen.
2413Games of chance (cardgames, etc.) or wagers are not in themselves contrary to justice. They become morallyunacceptable when they deprive someone of what is necessary to provide for his needs and those of others. the passion for gamblingrisks becoming an enslavement. Unfairwagers and cheating at gamesconstitutegravematter, unless the damageinflicted is so slight that the one who suffers it cannot reasonablyconsider it significant.
2414 The seventhcommandmentforbidsacts or enterprises that for any reason - selfish or ideological, commercial, or totalitarian - lead to the enslavement of humanbeings, to their being bought, sold and exchanged like merchandise, in disregard for their personaldignity. It is a sin against the dignity of persons and their fundamentalrights to reduce them by violence to their productivevalue or to a source of profit. St. Pauldirected a Christianmaster to treat his Christianslave 'no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a belovedbrother, . . . both in the flesh and in the Lord.'193
Respect for the integrity of creation
2415 The seventhcommandmentenjoinsrespect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimatebeings, are by naturedestined for the commongood of past, present, and futurehumanity.194Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animalresources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moralimperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other livingbeingsgranted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, includinggenerations to come; it requires a religiousrespect for the integrity of creation.195
2416Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providentialcare. By their mereexistence they bless him and give him glory.196 Thus menowe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. PhilipNeritreatedanimals.
2417Godentrustedanimals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image.197 Hence it is legitimate to useanimals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to helpman in his work and leisure. Medical and scientificexperimentation on animals is a morallyacceptablepractice, if it remains within reasonablelimits and contributes to caring for or savinghumanlives.
2418 It is contrary to humandignity to causeanimals to suffer or dieneedlessly. It is likewiseunworthy to spendmoney on them that should as a prioritygo to the relief of humanmisery. One can loveanimals; one should not direct to them the affectiondue only to persons.
189⇒2Cor8:9.
190Cf. GS69 # 1.
191Cf. ⇒Deut25:13-16; ⇒24:14-15; ⇒Jas5:4; ⇒ Am 8:4-6.
192⇒Lk19:8.
193Philem16.
194Cf. Gen128-31.
195Cf. CA37-38.
196Cf. ⇒Mt6:26; ⇒Dan3:79-81.
197Cf. ⇒Gen2:19-20; ⇒9:1-4.
My Baptist friend says that gambling is a sin. Yet, I know many good Catholics who visit places like Atlantic City and play slot machines and the like, or schools that have casino nights as fund raisers. What should I say to my friend?
Gambling, whether it involves games of chance (e.g. card games), wagers or betting, or even lotteries, is not intrinsically evil (Catechism, No. 2404). However, a person may only engage in these activities with a strict adherence to virtue. First, he must act with temperance, whereby he keeps his passions and emotions under the control of reason, acts with moderation, and uses material goods in a good way and in accord with the circumstances of his life.
Second, the virtue of justice governs both the game itself as well as the person playing the game. The game must be fair and all players must have an equal chance of winning. In justice, the player's gambling must not prevent him from meeting his obligations to support himself or his family, pay his debts, or fulfill other responsibilities.
Consequently, a person must be careful not to become addicted to gambling, because of its excitement or the possibility of making 'quick, easy, big money.' He must not risk money that is necessary for the livelihood of himself or those entrusted to his care. Moreover, a gambler should always weigh whether that money could be better used for something of clear, tangible benefit. Even a wealthy person who may have great disposable income must use moderation, recognizing that the money risked on frivolous gambling could be used to help those less fortunate.
With this foundation in mind, several 'classic' rules govern gambling:
- A player must be free to dispose of the stakes wagered in the game. He must be able to accept the risk of losing the stakes without incurring harm to himself or to others. Basically, the stakes should be 'disposable' money.
- The player must make the gamble with full knowledge and consent.
- All players must have an equal chance of winning.
- The game must be fair. All fraud or deception is prohibited.
- While everyone enjoys winning, the motive for playing the game should be one of pleasure rather than of gain. One must not depend upon gambling for one's livelihood. (Prummer, Handbook of Moral Theology).
Even if one conscientiously follows these rules, he must always remain on guard. While gambling can be fun, it can also be very addictive. In a recent study, Harvard Medical School found that 1.29 percent of the adult population in America are pathological gamblers: this equates to 2.2 million addicted gamblers. Another 4 percent are considered 'problem gamblers.' Such addiction is a spiritual enslavement that a person allows to happen.
Besides addiction, a spiritual problem emerges when a person thinks he can make the quick, easy, big money gambling rather than by simply working hard. Here he accepts great risks that could have dire consequences. Such a condition deteriorates when a person loses money he should use for himself or his family and even accrues greater debt.
Be on guard, because gambling is a prevalent, luring, big business. Last year, the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey estimated that betting on last year's Denver-Atlanta Super Bowl reached $4 billion not including side bets and office pools. As of 1999, 37 states and the District of Columbia sponsored lotteries, and 26 states have legalized some form of casino gambling. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, Americans spend $600 billion annually in legal gambling operations, at least $100 billion more than they spend for food. The revenues of the gambling industry continue to rise each year.
When I was studying at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, two fellow seminarians and I ventured to Atlantic City when we had a free weekend. Of course, we wanted to see this attraction, which was new at the time. I think we planned to spend $20 on the quarter slot machines, of course winning a little, losing a little, but in the end losing everything. Granted there was that temptation to keep going, thinking, 'The next one will be the jack pot,' but we held to the limit. I was appalled though by how many people spent hours loading the slot machines with multiple coins. Worse yet, I remember watching the action at a poker table and seeing the well-dressed, distinguished manager approach one of the players with a document to sign, which basically mortgaged his home. While I am sure most people had innocent fun, never really expecting to win, I wonder how many went away sad, regretting their actions. Herein we see the problem of gambling.
St. Augustine said, 'The Devil invented gambling.' Maybe so. Remember, as our Lord hung on the cross, the Roman soldiers threw dice to see who would get His tunic, seeking only their own benefit while being oblivious to the greater good (Jn 19:24). Granted, there is nothing wrong with gambling as long as it is kept within the confines of virtue. Nevertheless, one must be very careful and vigilant.
Acknowledgement
Saunders, Rev. William. 'Is Gambling a Sin?' Arlington Catholic Herald.
Gambling Catholic Answers
This article is reprinted with permission from Arlington Catholic Herald.
The Author
Catholic Church And Gambling
Father William Saunders is pastor of Our Lady of Hope parish in Potomac Falls, Virginia. He is dean of the Notre Dame Graduate School of Christendom College. The above article is a 'Straight Answers' column he wrote for the Arlington Catholic Herald. Father Saunders is the author of Straight Answers, a book based on 100 of his columns, and Straight Answers II.
Copyright © 2003 Arlington Catholic Herald