The glittering lights of fabulous Las Vegas have been darkened since the big lockdown, and is that such a bad thing? It’s a bad thing for the thousands of people who work in Las Vegas and the other gambling joints across America, but is gambling good for us, or is it yet another entertainment addiction we could do without?

I was brought up in a conservative Christian home where we didn’t go to movies or dances and didn’t even use playing cards. Gambling was one of those sinful activities along with drinking and smoking that were strictly forbidden.

As I grew older I moved away from the old family prohibitions. Then one day when I was visiting Atlantic City, New Jersey, on a speaking engagement, my host Tony offered to take me to lunch. “Where do you want to eat?” he asked.

“Someplace local.”

So we went to the casino. On the drive over I said, “Tony, I have a confession.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m a casino virgin.”

“You’re What?”

“I’m like Dorothy. I’ve never been to Oz. I’ve never set foot in a casino.”

Tony stared at me, “You’re kidding me.”

“Gospel truth. I was brought up in the kind of home where we didn’t even have playing cards.”

The Wizard of Odds

When we got to the casino it was obvious that if I was Dorothy, Tony was the Wizard of Odds. If I was a virgin, he was a veteran. The car park attendant knew him, the gal in the bunny suit offered him a free drink. Tony gave me the grand tour. I learned how the games were played, what the odds were and how the house always wins. Tony’s game was craps. He bought some chips. We rolled the dice. We had fun. We lost.

I could see that Tony could afford to lose. He drove a nice car and I knew he owned a couple of successful businesses. Over lunch he explained that he plays for fun, not to win.

“Other guys ski, travel or have a boat. That’s their hobby. I gamble.”

How could I argue? It’s just a harmless game isn’t it? Tony’s a good Christian. He’s a family man, and a regular guy. So he has an unusual hobby? I tried to put my homegrown puritanical streak on one side. If Tony and his family are okay with it, I’m okay.

Lady Luck or Lady Loser?

But there’s a problem. Tony could afford to gamble and lose. But from what I could see, most of the other folks at the casino weren’t in Tony’s income bracket. The place was packed with poor people. You could tell by the desperate look on their faces that the young African American guys were probably gambling away their rent money. Old couples in cheap Wal-Mart clothes sat together losing not only their children’s inheritance, but the money they needed for assisted living. The casinos feed like sharks on the desperation of the poor. The fact that it’s dressed up as a glitzy game makes the whole charade even more wicked, sad and pitiful.

Gambling has become a huge industry. All across America, casinos are springing up wherever a legal loophole can be found. Around the world, the gambling lobby is pushing for fewer rules and more licenses. Gambling’s everywhere. Online poker, horse racing, wagers on sports, and state lottos suck up money — while at a lower level, seemingly harmless raffles, games on cereal packs and Reader’s Digest Sweepstakes fuel the frenzied illusion that you can get something for nothing.

A Hole in the Soul

What is the hole in the soul that pushes us to gamble? First, there is the childish belief that few of us can shake off — the belief in magic. We believe there really is a good fairy out there called Lady Luck who will wave her wand and solve all our problems.

The English writer Hilaire Belloc said, “Every argument is a theological argument.” In other words, what you believe affects how you behave. Beneath the false dream that luck will smile on you is a deeper problem of belief. Lady Luck is actually a sinister false goddess. She represents chance instead of providence.

Historians tell us in ancient Rome people were gambling addicts. They would bet on anything. They even rolled dice for the robes of their savior. Why did they play the odds? Because those were their gods. Without a belief in an all-powerful, all loving creator all you are left with is happenchance.

Casino Rot

Therefore, is it any wonder that in our society, worm eaten with evolutionism and relativism, so many believe in chance rather than a divine plan? With an economic meltdown and record unemployment, more people than ever will be looking for the quick answer and the instant solution that gambling seems to offer. Belief in a magic cure is bound to soar.

Epidemic level gambling is the economic outworking of that belief, and the outcomes are disastrous. It doesn’t take much reasoning to see that such an economic system erodes the motivation for the hard work, enterprise and personal responsibility from which real prosperity is built. When gambling takes root it gobbles up savings, destroys homes and leaves people destitute and reliant on state support.

Simply put, gambling rots society, rots economies and, worst of all, rots the soul. I had fun visiting the casino with my friend Tony, but I’m thinking maybe those old prohibitions on gambling were not such a bad idea.

Dwight Longenecker is a Catholic priest working in South Carolina. Check out his new book Immortal Combat: Confronting the Heart of Darkness.