What Does the Bible Say About Gambling? Is Gambling a Sin?
1) Direct Answer
Yes. Gambling is sin. The Bible condemns the spirit that drives it—covetousness, the love of money, trusting chance instead of trusting God, and taking gain that comes at another’s loss.
2) Scriptural Explanation
- Covetousness: “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Jesus said, “Beware of covetousness” (Luke 12:15). Gambling feeds that desire to have what God did not give.
- Love of money: “They that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare... For the love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Timothy 6:9-10). Gambling is built on that very love.
- Vanity and quick gain: “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished” (Proverbs 13:11). “A faithful man shall abound with blessings: but he that maketh haste to be rich shall not be innocent… He that hasteth to be rich hath an evil eye” (Proverbs 28:20,22).
- Trust and contentment: “Be content with such things as ye have” (Hebrews 13:5). “Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23). Gambling looks to chance, not to the Lord’s provision.
- Honest work vs. chance: “In all labour there is profit” (Proverbs 14:23). “If any would not work, neither should he eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10). “Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour… that he may have to give” (Ephesians 4:28). God blesses honest labor, not schemes.
- Stewardship and masters: “No man can serve two masters… Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Luke 16:10-13). Gambling serves mammon. We are stewards, and “it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2).
- Love for neighbor: “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth [good]” (1 Corinthians 10:24). Gambling wins by another’s loss; love doesn’t do that (Romans 13:10).
- Bondage: “I will not be brought under the power of any” (1 Corinthians 6:12). Gambling enslaves many; the Bible forbids such bondage.
Now notice, some point to “casting lots” in Scripture. The Bible shows lots used to discern God’s will (Proverbs 16:33; Acts 1:26), not to satisfy greed, not to take money from a neighbor, and not as entertainment. Soldiers casting lots for Jesus’ garment only shows the cruelty of men, not God’s approval (John 19:24).
3) Simple Clarifying Logic
- Gambling seeks gain without work; Scripture teaches gain by faithful labor.
- Gambling springs from covetousness and the love of money; Scripture condemns both.
- Gambling depends on chance; faith rests in God’s provision and contentment.
- Gambling profits one at the harm of another; love does no harm to a neighbor.
- Gambling often brings bondage; the believer must not be ruled by any such power.
4) Reinforcing Statement
Turn from it. Confess it to God, cut it off, make things right where you can, and trust the Lord to supply your needs. The Bible’s way is faith, contentment, honest work, and stewardship unto God.
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What did the Laodicean Church Age (our age) Angel (- messenger) Say about this?
Ranked passages from the local William Branham sermon and Church Age Book database. Relevance is relative, not a statement of doctrinal certainty.
The sin of unbelief
58-0517E §3
...d, tonight, a little scripture, just to get the setting of feeling of the meeting, found over in St. Matthew 12, the 42nd verse: just to get a background of what we want to say---a little context. And the queen from the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. I would like to take the text tonight, if the Lord willing, on the subject of "The Sin Of Unb...
Questions and Answers
59-0628E §82
No more sin. The sin question's settled. That's the reason sin looks so dirty to a Christian. That's why women out here with these shorts on look so dirty to a Christian. That's why vulgarity, that's why dirty things, that's why smoking, drinking, gambling, all these uncensored programs on television, all that stuff seems filth. Why? You're of a different kingdom. You're borned into the kingdom of God and sealed by the Holy Ghost until the day of your redemption. He that's borned of God commits no sin, for he can't...
The Inner Man
53-1212 §36
Now, that's what God wants to do here tonight. He wants to get rid of all the sin that's in this--in this group, if there's sin in here. I pray there's not one, but if there is... And you know ... "What is sin, Brother Branham? Well, today, I tell you, I lost my temper." Now, wait just a moment. Sin is unbelief. Now, that's what sin is. There's no other sin but unbelief. It's not a sin to do things like drinking and smoking and gambling and prostitution. That's not sin. That's the result of sin, that the reason you...
Balm in Gilead
59-0614 §16
And now, we hear so much today about heart disease. They say that heart trouble is the number one killer in America. Heart trouble isn't the number one killer; it's sin that's the number one killer in America. Sin is what does the killing. Medicine... You might be able to patch up your body a little while. And that body is going to die anyhow. It's going back to the dust of the earth. But that soul will live somewhere forever. That's the killer, is sin to the soul. That's number one killer in America. So many peopl...
At Thy Word, Lord
54-0221 §33
I said here some time ago, preaching in a Methodist church. I said, "Drinking whiskey is not a sin; smoking cigarettes, committing adultery's not a sin." The little old sanctified Methodist mother sitting there, she said, "Then, preacher, what is sin?" I said, "Unbelief! That's sin." Smoking, drinking, gambling, committing adultery, and stealing, lying, and so forth is not sin; it's the attributes of sin. You do that because you're an unbeliever, and you don't... You say, "Well, I'm a Christian, I don't smoke, I do...