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.
Have faith in God
54-0900 §28
What is sin? Sin is unbelief. Drinking, smoking, gambling, committing adultery: that isn't sin. That's the attributes of sin. You do that because you're not a believer. And peace, and joy, and love, and goodness: That isn't salvation. You do that because you are a believer, see, see. That's... The whole thing hangs on whether you are a believer or not a believer. If you're not a believer, you're a doubter. You say it isn't right and you do things that you oughtn't to do; that's because you're an unbeliever. And so...
Church Ages, part 9: The ten virgins, and the 144,000
60-1211M §151
Now, that's a type of the gospel trumpet. You might have served the devil all these years in chains, with drinking, smoking, gambling, sin, dirty things]---no matter what you've done. But when you hear the gospel trumpet sound, it's a sign that you can go free. You can go. "Faith cometh by hearing of the Word of God." Now you've heard the full gospel. You don't have to stay bound any longer. Now, if you just sit and say, "Oh, I listened to it. But I didn't hear it," see, all right, then it ain't for you. It's for t...
Israel and the Church: Israel at Kadesh-Barnea
53-0328 §17
No man, no man can believe Jesus to be the Christ, in his heart, and will be the same man that he was before. Can't do it. No, sir. As I said last night. Drinking, smoking, gambling, all those things isn't sin. It isn't sin to gamble ... gambling isn't sin, rather, smoking isn't sin, drinking isn't sin, swearing isn't sin; it's an attribute of sin! Because you're a sinner, that's the reason you do it. If you was a Christian, you wouldn't do it. He said, "He that loves the world or the things of the world, the love...
The Called-out
58-0109 §6
...for a toothache, she'd smoke an old cane pipe. But, oh, how popular that devil has become. Daughter, mother, and the little children, even smoke, and it's popular, but it's sin just the same. It's just hid under another name. It used to be wrong for people to gamble. They had places, like, of ill fame where such things went on, saloons, where respectable people didn't attend. And women, used to, when they would come down the street where there was a saloon, they'd pass on the other side. But today she puts her foot...
Questions and Answers
54-0515 §127
QUESTION: "Brother Bill, does the Bible say anything about gambling?" Yes, it does, but I can't call it right now. I know the soldiers gambled for His garments, and so forth like that, but I can't say.