Bernard Madoff entered a New York courtroom recently and pleaded guilty to 11 felonies costing investors as much as $50 billion. He said he was “deeply sorry and ashamed” for what he’d done. Society is justifiably outraged that one individual could exploit so many, even some who were close to him, including his own synagogue.

Yet how different is state-supported gambling and a Ponzi scheme? Both promise financial rewards to individuals they know will reap nothing. Once again, the gambling interests are pulling out the stops to dupe Texans into thinking the way to a painless economic recovery is providing more gambling opportunities for its citizens.

Randel Everett

Who benefits from gambling? I heard a person’s chance in winning the lottery is the same as a person who is blindfolded, given a needle and told to stab an ant that has been released on a football field. A Canadian professor says the odds of winning the big lottery prize are the same as the possibilities of dialing any number you think of in the city of Toronto and reaching the person you wanted to call.

Unfortunately, it usually is the poor who take a dollar that would have gone for bread or milk and spend it on a lottery ticket. Gambling is regressive and hurts the marginalized in our society the most.

Weston Ware, one of our Texas Baptist champions against gambling, has written: “Most Texans have not yet recognized that gambling proposals have their own costs. Each addicted gambler creates secondary costs that society must pay for. Pro-gambling proponents talk about making money from gambling but never mention the other side of the ledger—the massive economic and social costs to taxpayers, including nongamblers. According to reputable scholarship, the construction of a major casino in a Texas city would potentially create addiction or serious problems in up to 5 percent of the population. Studies document that a pathological gambler creates a social cost of $13,500. Those costs come from crime—apprehension, adjudication and incarceration, business costs in lost productivity and time, bankruptcy, suicide, illness, costs of social services and the costs of government regulation. (This is documented in Earl L. Grinols’ Gambling in America: Costs and Benefits).”

Jesus said, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12:15).

Madoff, gambling interests and our own greed create serious problems for us and for others. The church should advocate consistently for the poor and the mistreated. We must speak out against those who would exploit the needy for personal gains, even if they are elected officials.

Randel Everett is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Executive Board.

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