Why is gambling immoral?

I occasionally gamble. I only play with money I can afford to lose. It's entertainment for me. I expect to lose the money - if I don't, it's a plus.

I don't think gambling is immoral, but do think chronic gambling is a sign of weak character that often manifests itself in addiction issues like gambling and associated vices such as alcoholism, drug abuse, sex addiction, PEDs use, and other cheating to win types of behavior.

And to be clear, I'm not talking about someone who goes on a weekend junket to Vegas with friends once a year for a good time, I'm talking about these goons who think that gambling is their profession...the ones who think if they land a 1K win in the course of six months that the 500 hours they spent at the table was worth their time. Gamblers are generally horrible businessmen.

IRA's, the stock market, even 529's. Gambling no?

Imo it is most definitely not immoral by itself but it can easily lead to other immoral behavior. Kind of like alcohol and other drugs, too much of it is a very bad thing.

False premise. Gambling is not immoral.

So strange that many Christians consider gambling immoral even though the Levites of old practiced gambling with the Urim and Thummim.

Doesn't seem strange at all to me.

ray wrote:

IRA's, the stock market, even 529's. Gambling no?

Definitely. But despite what the fear mongering Democrats have to say about it, the odds are stacked in your favor. I would love to have control over how my SS contributions are invested.

Social Security isn't invested anywhere, everything that comes in goes right out.

ghi wrote:

Life is a gamble.

Why is gambling immoral?

Do you gamble?

0/10

As has been said, Get a life.

Why did you capitalize Get?

Gambling irresponsibly is immoral. Playing in a casino for entertainment with disposable income is not.

Santa Reeya wrote:

Gambling irresponsibly is immoral. Playing in a casino for entertainment with disposable income is not.

"Disposable income" by whose definition? You, your wife, your kid who needs private occupational therapy services, your teen who wants to go to college, your 80-year-old mother who deserves a better retirement home?

To a chronic gambler, ALL income is disposable income.

Unholy Cumulus wrote:

Social Security isn't invested anywhere, everything that comes in goes right out.

Yes, that's correct. But so that we could count on there being at least something available for retirement, a few years back an initiative was made to allow individuals to manage a portion of their retirement funds allowing us to invest in the stock market if we chose. This was soundly trounced as an absolutely insane idea by the Democrats, who want to keep everybody poor and voting for hand outs.

Short answer- you're getting something out of nothing.

Long answer- you'll have to ask me in person, it could get pretty deep.

The issue with gambling is that in most cases the rewards do not match the risks for the gambler.

If you play roulette and bet one dollar you have less than a 50% chance of winning a dollar.

All odds favor the house in casinos. Over time, the more you play, the more you lose.

This is fine if you expect to lose and are entertained by the process.

This is not fine if you actually intend to risk something with expectations of proportionate winnings.

Are casinos providing a service for their profits?

Sure, entertainment. Many losers may disagree that they were enternained, though.

Same thing with the lottery but worse.

The awards sound great but the odds are terrible and not at all in line with the payout. And they either take 25 years to pay you or pay a fraction of the advertised award.

Investing is different. The risks are proportional to the rewards and more often than not wind up with a gain.

The immorality of gambling really isn't on the gambler but the gamer.

Those selling false hope of unearned riches where the games are rigged to line their pockets.

Casinos, lotteries, etc.

My belief is that gambling (in the sense of lottery, a game of poker or luck etc...) is immoral because:

1. Say you win- you get a million dollars for predicting the correct sum of two dice many times- great, but did you earn those $1 million? In my firm belief, wealth must be earned legitimately via hard work, intelligent planning etc... etc..., not by some random game of cards or something as petty.

2. Many become addicted to gambling, and people have gone broke from this habit. Even multi-millionaires can lose their entire fortunes from this.

Gambling is an ill to society, and I would suggest never approaching it at all.

I gambled and I lost

Haha, YO (super cereal) wrote:

Short answer- you're getting something out of nothing.

Long answer- you'll have to ask me in person, it could get pretty deep.

Your short answer is woefully inadequate.

The risk of losing your stake is nothing? If you lose (and get nothing) then it IS moral? Any time you get "something from nothing" is immoral, or just when gambling? Interest immoral?