The Lure of the Lottery

WITHOUT doubt the lottery is a lure for many persons. The prospect of getting much in exchange for very little, as well as the excitement associated with it, is irresistible to not a few. Taking advantage of this fact, New York, one of America’s leading states, has inaugurated a state lottery, and the sale of tickets begins June 15, 1967.

The lottery might be said to be a twofold lure, for it is a lure not only to those who buy lottery tickets but also to governments as a source of revenue. The legislative body of New York state repeatedly voted for it, as well as a majority of the voters of the state, 2,464,898 voting for it as compared with 1,604,694 voting against it. In this they were following the example the people of the nearby state of New Hampshire, which three years ago was the first state in the United States in seventy years to operate a lottery. Throughout the world lotteries are operated by more than eighty countries, which pocket upward of $1,000 million annually in profits.

The Irish Sweepstakes might be said to be the most widely known and patronized luring lottery, it also being the biggest business in Eire. According to Fortune, a leading United States business magazine, the Irish Sweepstakes manages to sell tickets in 146 different lands. It professes to take in about $45 million annually and to give about one-fifth of this to charity. West Germany may well have the largest lottery lure, for its three national lotteries collect $545 million annually, one-third of which goes to health, youth and sports programs. Last December Madrid had its largest holiday lottery ever, $50 million being distributed to the winners. England, France and Mexico operate profitable lotteries and so do such Communist lands as the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.

Because the lottery may be a deceptive lure as regards a source of revenue for governments, some leaders in American civic affairs have campaigned vigorously against it. In fact, the lottery for New York state was strongly opposed by some of its highest officials. Why? Because, as stated in the New York Post, “the people who can least afford to spend money on the lottery are those who do. Therefore a lottery is a regressive [as opposed to a progressivea] type of taxation that is socially wrong. . . . In England the off-track betting parlors do most of their business in the poor neighborhoods. . . . Lured by the promise of something for nothing, the poor will unquestionably direct income to gambling that should be spent on essentials such as food and clothing.”​—October 3, 1966.

That this is no idle theory was proved when a strike of lottery employees stopped the lottery in Puerto Rico for ten days. During this time food sales in certain supermarkets jumped 30 percent. Obviously, poor people have more money for food when there is no lottery on which to spend their money!

That operating lotteries for revenue is a deceptive lure is the stand taken by the Tax Institute of America: “No matter how many ingenious ways we devise, sooner or later we learn with each of them that there is no . . . panacea [cure-all]. In the long run ‘painless’ methods frequently turn out to be the most painful.”

That the lottery is a deceptive lure is further seen in that it is basically unsound. Lotteries consume much manpower and yet produce no wealth; they merely distribute it from the hands of the many to the hands of the few, and that at no small cost. In some instances the “overhead” is 50 percent of the total taken in. There are but three honest and sound forms of transferring money, namely, in the form of outright gifts, in exchange for other valuable considerations and in exchange for labor.

Those who would be guided by Bible principles must learn to resist the lure of the lottery and other forms of gambling when exposed to them. These are really forms of extortion, even though the loser consents to part with his money. Duelling has long been ruled wrong, even though it may be described as killing by mutual consent. So with gambling, it is extortion by mutual consent; one wins only because another or many others lose. It is morally wrong to seek pleasure or profit at the pain or loss of others.

Yes, lotteries encourage selfishness, for each one taking part in them hopes against hope that he will win what his neighbor has put in the lottery and so it makes, in effect, each one the enemy of the rest. It is the very opposite of heeding the Scriptural counsel at 1 Corinthians 10:24: “Let each one keep seeking, not his own advantage, but that of the other person.” At the bottom of it is the love of money, which is a root of all sorts of injurious things, according to the apostle Paul.​—1 Tim. 6:9, 10.

No wonder that often corruption is associated with lotteries; for which reason seventy years ago it was made illegal to send lottery tickets from one state to another in the United States. Nor to be overlooked is the wretched lot of those who become compulsive gamblers; which affliction often results in much heartbreak and the committing of all kinds of crime.

Succumbing to the lure of the lottery also runs against the Scriptural principle that we should be workers. Those who succumb to the lure of the lottery would substitute “luck” for hard work. But the Bible plainly says: “If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat.”​—2 Thess. 3:10; Prov. 6:6.

Christians, therefore, while not interfering with what others choose to do, will resist the lure of the lottery if they would be pleasing to God. They will not even sell lottery tickets or accept any similar sort of employment, knowing that extortioners are barred from the Christian congregation and that being employed in such ways makes them party to extortion. They will content themselves with the fruits of productive toil and seek their pleasures in ways harmful to none.​—1 Cor. 6:9, 10.

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