Responsible gambling?

Posted on October 30, 2009 
Filed under Opinion

Opinion from Peter Brain, Bishop of Armidale –

“From time to time I enjoyed watching Friday night football on the telly (quite an admission from one brought up on the other rugby!)

What surprised me was the statement by the commentators (at half-time, I think it was) that advised us that we could ‘get $1.18 for St George and $4 for Parramatta by ‘phoning … – but please remember to gamble responsibly.’ 

I shouldn’t have been surprised, I guess, since gambling is an expression of our love affair with greed and money which has sadly become a religion amongst us. But like all religion the worst feature is the hypocrisy, here expressed in those words ‘….but please remember to gamble responsibly’.

Those words are both loveless and unrealistic. Unrealistic because they overlook the addictive effect gambling has on many people and loveless because they pretend that this addiction doesn’t rob many families of food and other necessities, contributing to marital break-ups and loss of personal integrity and respect.

Ours is a very proud culture where we feel that a simple warning or the provision of funds to help counsellors means we can gamble responsibly.

My dad, who was born in the 1920s, put his age up to go into the RAAF and started work at the Rural Bank, and remembers that if a bank employee was seen at the racecourse or near an SP bookie it meant instant dismissal. They realised that the temptations of gambling plus opportunity were a dangerous mix. But we know better. And we ignore the tragic results that destroy character, families and grow the ‘greed is good’ culture that so clearly fails to contribute anything of lasting substance amongst us.

The real problem with gambling is that it fails to give money and work their proper value. Both are so beneficial and can be used for such good. The provision of daily needs, the help of others, the building of assets that contribute to the community are all good and God given responses to all that He has provided for us. With our natural propensity to selfishness – that can lead us to greed, ingratitude, jealousy, theft – difficult enough to cope with, is it really wise for us to endlessly promote and publicly tempt each other into these relationship busters?

As a community, we rightly value charity.  But charity can only flourish out of the garden bed of generosity. Greed and gambling are weeds which will eventually choke generosity (and contentment) to death. And that cannot be good for any of us.

Peter Brain
Bishop of Armidale.”
October 16, 2009

(From the Diocese of Armidale website. Photo: Russell Powell.)