Nov
17
2009
Silent Killers and Silent Christians
What do you think–is gambling a sin?
In his massive book on The Doctrine of the Christian Life, John Frame argues that gambling is often wrong, but not always. He says gambling can be linked to the worship of chance; it can be addictive; it can involve covetousness; it can be a waste of time and money; it can be thought of as a substitute for useful work; and it can fall under the control of organized crime. So although Frame doesn’t think gambling is sinful in all circumstances it “is often or generally sinful, given the conditions in which we live” (806-807).
Even if plunking down ten dollars in the office pool may be harmless, the gambling industry certainly isn’t. And Christians ought to do more to speak against it.
Anyone unsure about the negative affects of the gaming industry and the sophisticated tools they use to entice addictive behavior should read Maura Casey’s devastating essay, Gambling with Lives, in First Things.
What can casinos, like the garish new Firekeepers Casino down the road from me, do to your community? Here’s Casey:
The Atlantic City beat cops spoke frankly about the rise in crime they witnessed after the casinos opened in the late 1970s, and others were equally blunt about the decline in the number of local businesses, the continued decay of urban neighborhoods, and the stubbornly high unemployment in the wake of casino gambling. Subsequent studies would later prove the point: In 1976, when New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in Atlantic City, unemployment in the city was 14.7 percent; in 1997, it was 12.7 percent. During those two decades, the number of locally owned businesses in Atlantic City dropped by half.
What can casinos do to your personal life?
A friend of mine told me that to escape the burdens of motherhood she would go to the casinos at 2 A.M. to gamble until 6:30 A.M., when she would go back home and get her kids ready for school. Until the day she didn’t go home in time—unable to stop playing the slots. A worried state legislator called to tell me her husband emptied her sixteen-year-old son’s college fund to gamble at the casinos. A bank manager told me about a customer who inherited $1 million and—aided by using the ATM machines at the casino to withdraw money—gambled it all away. A woman who worked at my daughter’s day care moved her family to Florida in a desperate attempt at a geographic cure after her husband drained money from his ten-year-old’s savings account and couldn’t stop going to the area casinos.
So why haven’t more civic, political, and religious leaders spoken out against the gambling industry in an effort to stop its expansion? Again, Casey:
Part of the reason that gambling spread so far and so fast is that the industry markets its product as just another form of harmless fun. In a brilliant move, the industry coined the term gaming as the euphemism of choice. Organized religion was slow to challenge the spread and, even today, rarely speaks out. Most of all, government has become predatory in its use of gambling as a worry-free method of increasing revenue without raising taxes. Indeed, the states have moved from granting permission to cheerleading. Government boosterism has legitimized gambling, eroding what few moral scruples remained on the part of average people against engaging in a behavior that, just a few decades ago, would have been considered largely unacceptable.
In addition, the positive impact of casinos—thousands of jobs, construction spending—is simple to measure, lending itself to triumphant press coverage and promises of easy prosperity. In Connecticut, the casinos are credited with creating 30,000 jobs directly and indirectly. But putting a price tag on the social costs tied to gambling has proved a more complicated task. What price should we pay for addiction, embezzlement, child neglect, increased debt, drunken driving, and suicide, as well as for the prevalence of problem gambling? Governments duck the challenge. Even Connecticut, which to its credit has produced several gambling studies over the past thirty years (the most recent of which came out in June), has consistently refused to tally the total social cost of gambling.
But, you may ask, aren’t the addicts to blame for their problems? So some people don’t know when to stop. Why does that make the whole industry suspect?
Decades ago it was widely assumed that gambling addiction took fifteen or twenty years to develop in men (and gamblers were once nearly all male). But those were the days when the primary pursuits of gamblers were such games as craps, roulette, poker, blackjack, or even betting on horses. In this context, the long time necessary for addiction to develop made sense. How often could a gambler bet on a horse? Or a sports team? At most, the event frequencies of the average gambler would occur perhaps fifty or a hundred times a day.
That may sound like a lot, until you consider the slot machine, the modern marvel that has done more to spread gambling than any other invention in history—which has been compared, understandably, to crack cocaine. An experienced gambler can bet 600 to 900 times an hour on a modern slot machine. That’s a lot of event frequencies, and the main reason that people are becoming addicted in far less time. This is especially true of women, who, unlike those in previous eras, are now as likely to gamble as men.
For reasons that are not clear, women take less time than men to develop addiction. Female casino customers are more likely to avoid competitive games than are men and are often drawn to casinos by a desire for escape, which slot machines facilitate. Experts say many women gamblers, who prefer slot machines, can become problem gamblers in just three to five years.
The slot machine, which is at the root of so much addiction, is responsible for 70 percent of the gambling revenue in Las Vegas—and the percentage is higher elsewhere. Slot machines are vacuum cleaners designed to swallow money, yet they remain among the least reported, least understood technological innovations influencing modern life.
So how do slot machines manipulate men and especially women into addictive behaviors? Casey one last time:
Along the way, the casinos paid for considerable research into how to increase the length of time gamblers stay at the machine—since the longer that patrons play, the more they lose and the more casinos profit. The chairs at slot machines are ergonomically designed to be comfortable, with no hard edges that could decrease leg circulation, Schull observes. Screens slant at 38 degrees to prevent slouching. Game controls are within easy reach, as are computerized menus to have food and drink delivered without leaving the machine. Some have television monitors to keep players from exiting the area to catch their favorite shows. Slot machines have many different themes, mimicking game shows, cartoons, or favorite sitcoms. The sound of jingling coins, the bells, the volume of noise, the flashing lights are all designed to encourage patrons to play, and play, and play…
The real genius of the gambling industry was to combine B.F. Skinner’s work on operant conditioning with intense research on how and why gamblers play on the machines. Every casino has a rewards card (Foxwoods’ was once called the Wampum Card, but now it is called the Dream Card), which the gamblers insert into machines at the beginning of play. The gimmick is that, when customers use the cards, the casinos pay them a small amount for every hour they gamble and send them special offers, the value of which escalates the more they bet. In the process, casinos gain a treasure trove of information.The data culled from customer cards at Harrah’s, for example, helped the gambling chain amass a staggering database on 16 million gamblers. The casinos set calendars and budgets that predicted when certain gamblers would show up, how much they would spend, and their “lifetime value” to the company, according to Winner Takes All: Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman and the Race to Own Las Vegas, the 2008 book by Christina Binkley. Company computers produced “behavior modification reports,” suggesting which gamblers would respond to the offer of a free hotel room and which ones would prefer free gambling chips. The computers measured the “velocity” of gambling based on how often gamblers hit the buttons on slot machines, and Harrah’s used the data to entice them to gamble even more. The company measured how often casino patrons visited, and it called them with free offers if the research indicated they were “overdue.” High rollers had always gotten such careful attention, but Harrah’s showed that paying attention to the low-rolling majority of gamblers would make casinos even more lucrative.
Slot machines have long been programmed to show “near misses” and give gamblers the impression that they came this close to winning, the better to encourage them to keep playing. The machines give back enough money in the process to make gamblers feel like winners even when they are losing. But Harrah’s developed the technique of intervening when reality began to dawn on gamblers—when they lost so much the experience was becoming negative. The company tracked, in real time, customers’ losing streaks and would send “luck ambassadors” to perk them up, give them a token gift—free lunch or some free credits on the machine— to reduce their perception of losing and keep them gambling longer…
Those who defend gambling say that it should be a matter of free will, just like any other adult habit. But when a customer is pitted against researchers armed with psychological techniques, marketing studies, and computer analyses of a patron’s own behavior for the express purpose of extracting ever larger amounts of money, how much choice is really involved?
Of course, addicts are still responsible for their choices, but Casey’s point is well-taken. The slot-machine is not a toy, or as it is so often dubbed, a bit of harmless entertainment. It is a learning machine intent on finding your weakness and exploiting it. Casinos exist to take your money. They make no product. They do not create wealth. They do not contribute to the public good. They hurt communities, hurt families, and by design try to hurt people by making them into coin-dropping addicts. Christians interested in seeking the shalom of their cities should do what they can to oppose the proliferation of casinos, lotteries, and the rest of the gaming industry. They could start by not showing up.
It may seem like I’ve quoted the whole essay, but I haven’t. Be sure to read the whole thing.
17 Comments
Dennis and I have learned that casinos are a major temptation for many international students. After awhile of listening to some students brag about how lucky they were, we stressed how the system is designed to work against them, and that the casino profits all the time. Unfortunately, some learned the hard way. And we stressed again and again that their wins and losses are not accidents. They might as well as take their money and flush it down the toilet.
Recently, Dennis and I celebrated our wedding anniversary in Niagra Falls. We had to wait for a shuttle to our hotel outside a casino and we stepped inside to look around for a few minutes. We watched as a half dozen gamblers lost thousands at a roulette table in one turn, because all the numbers had bets placed on them except one. Guess which number came up as the “winning” number? Yep, the one that no one bet on. I grabbed Den’s arm and told him we are getting out of there, it’s demonic. Because not one of the losers quit, but continued on with their eyes glazed over not comprehending what just had happened.
We told the students this story and our observations that most of the people in the casinos were old or young like them, who seemed to have a lot of time on their hands. We also shared with them that we cared about them and hoped that nothing terrible would happen to them. Finally, instead of being dismissed with a smile and assurances that they were in control of themselves, most of them got the point. But I wish we had made that point much earlier in a more emphatic way.
I read Frame on this. I could scarcely believe what I was reading. I am glad you have drawn attention to it. To me it beggar’s belief that a responsible christian theologian would even want to open the door a crack to gambling. It seems really ivory towered.
Good stuff Kevin. I think more Christians should take a stand against gambling, particularly casinos. They may create some jobs, but it is at the expense of others. Casinos take advantage of the sinfulness of man, and though people who gamble are responsible for their actions, the state should not be encouraging an industry that ruins many lives.
Good post. Makes me think that this could be applied to other areas of life such as bars and pubs.
Kevin,
While I agree with the general sentiments you put forth, I would like to offer up a mild defense of gambling. It’s been said that gambling is a tax against those that are bad at math, which is a cute anecdote. More to the point though, it does offer two positive experiences: entertainment and (to some) a sense of hope — a sense that one day their figurative and literal number may come up and make their lives better. This does not make gambling a good idea, but it does offer a silver lining.
Gambling doesn’t create or produce anything, but like a football game, a night at the opera, or an evening spent watching television, it is entertaining. The article says that there is a battalion of psychologists working on how to separate people from their dollars. Yet, this is the exact same circumstances for anyone watching television or driving down the commercial zone of a city. People do get their Ph.D.’s in various forms of marketing and advertising. And if you think their effect is nominal, remember that advertising is a multi-billion dollar per year industry: companies wouldn’t spend that kind of money if it didn’t work. Pam is right, it could be applied to bars and pubs, and pretty much every other commercial endeavor.
If gambling is a form of entertainment, albeit exploitative at times, we should take it as such. It exists on a continuum with World of Warcraft, Monday Night Football, and Shakespeare. Granted, I wish people would more enthralled with the latter than the former, I don’t consider it inconceivable that even in an unfallen world we would still have gambling. In an unfallen world, we wouldn’t gamble for hope, but how does want measure the value of that in this world?
There is a fascinating drama with our interest in chance. It is a quirk of our reality, going down to the quantum level, that we find potential reward in taking risks — probably a vestibule biological tick that helped some of our ancestors survive. It is, in fact, one of the most “worldly” activities. In Heaven, presumably, Providence will reign wholly and complete; risk-taking most likely is intrinsically linked to time and space. It is animal and primal and instinctual — but so are a lot of other rather pleasant human activities.
“Every man who knocks on the door of a brothel is looking for God.” Can the same be true for the man who walks through the automatic doors of a casino?
Toolbit out.
[...] Silent Killers and Silent Christians by Kevin DeYoung [...]
As far as the “Gambling as entertainment” argument goes – If you can do it without coveting then it is not sinful. Kinda like looking at porn without lusting. If you can, it is pointless, and not fun.
Yes, people get hope, but it is a false hope. The odds are ridiculous. Moreover, the winners often turn out to be losers – the hope turns out to cause as much pain as it was supposed to deliver people from.
It is appalling that the State profits off of selling false hope too the poorest and most desperate of it’s population.
In his massive book on The Doctrine of the Christian Life, John “Frame argues that gambling is often wrong, but not always. He says gambling can be linked to the worship of chance; it can be addictive; it can involve covetousness; it can be a waste of time and money; it can be thought of as a substitute for useful work; and it can fall under the control of organized crime. So although Frame doesn’t think gambling is sinful in all circumstances it “is often or generally sinful, given the conditions in which we live” (806-807).”
I agree with Professor John Frame on this issue.
I find it quite telling that the same arguments made in Casey’s article could be made about alcohol. There are many stories of how alcohol abuse has ruined many a life, and despite all the “please drink responsibly” taglines, we all know that alcohol companies want you drinking a lot of their product. Yet, alcohol consumption in moderation is clearly not a sin from a biblical standpoint. I don’t think we can say gambling is either. I’ve got to go with Frame on this one – though I’ll be looking for Johnson’s follow-up post.
It is amazing that we can afford to gamble in this country but can’t afford health care and basic human needs.
Here is a quote from C.S. Lewis The Screwtape Letters. “…All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy (God) has produced, at times, or ways, or in degrees, which He (God) has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least redolent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula…To get man’s soul and give him nothing in return – that is what really gladdens our Father’s (Satan) heart….” If the world says it is right and good then turn 180 degrees and look where you should be headed. God Bless Now!
I was born and raised in Las Vegas. My parents taught me that gambling is a lot like using alcohol – it isn’t inherently sinful, but it can be easily misused. We learned how casinos make their money (multi-billion dollar hotels are payed for by gamblers) and how some people can become addicted and cause harm to themselves and their families. With this instruction, I grew up without ever gambling or wanting to gamble.
Now that I am an adult living in the South, I have met people who believe that gambling is inherently sinful. One person even said that if you take your child into a casino, they will fall in love with the flashing lights and become an addicted gambler when they grow up. I have stayed away from such extreme ideas, partly because my family went to the arcade at one of the hotels for one of my birthdays as a child. We also went to restaurants and movie theaters in casinos.
It seems like education is very important when it comes to gambling and casinos (regardless of what you believe). It is easy to say that gambling is bad and that your children will be ruined if you go to the casino buffet, but it is harder to explain why gambling is inappropriate for Christians. Education probably works better than fear. Taking the time to explain the details helped me grow up in “Sin City” without the snare of gambling causing me harm.
Andrew,
Good advice, thanks for sharing.
I agree with Andrew. Also gambling is only wrong if you abuse it. Why do Christians want to take away freedom from other U.S. citizens but they get angry when those same people try to take away their religious freedoms like praying in school.
“The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking; he can ruin himself with gambling. If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.” — GK Chesterton
[...] On the topic of gambling, it was a very busy week. Over at the Pyromaniacs teamblog, Phil Johnson started by declaring his intention to show that Biblically, gambling is a sin. He followed that by defining his terms, answering some common objections, and clarifying an economic myth. And that series isn’t done yet, so keep checking back to see how he finishes the series. Kevin DeYoung also dealt with this issue this week, although his focus was more on the broader implications to society and the local community. [...]
“The slot-machine is not a toy, or as it is so often dubbed, a bit of harmless entertainment. It is a learning machine intent on finding your weakness and exploiting it. Casinos exist to take your money. They make no product. They do not create wealth. They do not contribute to the public good. They hurt communities, hurt families, and by design try to hurt people by making them into coin-dropping addicts.”
With very few changes you could easily apply this critique to the modern credit-card industry. The so-called loyalty programs or points cards are really marketing surveys – likewise looking for your weakness. They are working to put you in debt to them.
I suspect that treating casinos with kid gloves is partly a phenomenon of Christians being aware – consciously or unconsciously – that casinos are merely an extreme case of what is wrong with our broader consumer culture. A culture that we often uncritically embrace.
I play friendly games of poker for pocket change with friends sometimes and I find that to be fun, since it’s a form of community and since poker is, arguably, a game of skill with a sort of gambling element (ask Bill Belichick if there are elements of gambling in other games of skill). When I’m in a casino though I feel an unease – like I need to guard myself, I have Obi Wan’s admonition about Mos Eisley in the back of my mind.