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.
Ask a Follow-up Question
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.
Hebrews, Chapter 3
57-0901M §56
Now the word here is used: sin, provoked; made... The reason they did it, they disbelieved. They never went out and got to shooting craps, now, and things like that. They never run around with somebody else's wife, and went out and told lies. That wasn't what they were doing. But that's not sin to begin with. Living in adultery is not sin. Smoking, chewing, drinking, gambling, cursing, swearing and so forth---that's not sin. That's the attributes of unbelief. You do that because you're an unbeliever. If you are a b...
We would see Jesus
61-0409 §40
So don't place sin on smoking, drinking, gambling. That's not sin. That's the attributes of unbelief. Sin is unbelief. You might never've touched a cigarette, drank, or never done anything evil in your life, and if you disbelieve God's Word you're still a sinner. Sin is unbelief. There's only two spirits: one believes, and the other does not believe. No matter... We have based all our thoughts upon some kind of a holy act, something that we want to do, and something that we've done. "I give Joneses some coal when t...
The way of a true prophet
63-0119 §16
And usually, prosperity causes sin. Many people look upon prosperity as blessings. It would be, if we could handle it right. But it usually leads to sin, dishonoring God. The kingdom was flourishing in his day. And the people ... he'd made an alliance with all the nations around him. And how Israel had drifted off into terrible sin---gotten away from God, gotten away from his commandments and his precepts, and had went off altogether on a tantrum. The women walked in the streets in their fine, immodest clothes. The...
Ministry explained
50-0711 §48
What is sin? What is sin? Not drinking, not smoking, not gambling, not rejecting church. Sin is unbelief. Is that right? He that believeth not is condemned already. See? You're not... You do not... You're not destroyed or separated from God because you're a sinner. You're separated to God--from God because you refuse to walk with Him, to walk in His provided way. You've got death and life before you. Just like Adam and Eve, every man's a free moral agent. And the Tree of Life and tree of death is before us all. You...
Hebrews, Chapters 5 and 6, part 1
57-0908M §11
Lying, stealing, drinking, smoking, gambling, committing adultery, that's not sin; that's the attributes of unbelief. See, that's what... You do that because you are a sinner, see. But first you are a sinner. That's what make you do that, because you do not believe. And if you do believe, then you do not do that. Then you have love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, meekness, patience. That's the fruit of the Holy Spirit, see. So we got little things, little sensations, is because that men got off o...