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Raffles and Gambling

Rabbi,

This is an issue I have had since becoming a child of God:
Churches have raffles, yet they speak against lottery. However, when I ask for scriptures which speak against gambling no one has been able to respond.

You seem to have a good grasp of the word; can you share with me the teaching/scriptures which speak of gambling/ lottery.

I think if a true believer wins it could be that they trust God to make their choice be the right one.
I am willing to stand corrected. I want nothing more than to obey and please God

Answer:

Scripture does not directly address the concept of gambling. However, the Sages were frowned upon gambling, and, in some forms considered it forbidden.

Gambling for money was viewed, according to one Talmudic approach, as a form of thievery. This is because the loser never really makes peace with the losses that were sustained, and does not forgive or forget the winner. He only gambles under the assumption that he will win, and taking his money is therefore a form of theft (which, of course, is forbidden by Scripture). Maimonides rules in accordance with this opinion, and according to this view, all forms of gambling are forbidden.

According to another Talmudic approach, the main problem with gambling is that professional gamblers “do nothing to promote the benefit of society.” Scripture makes a point of encouraging the productive and settlement of the world (see Isa. 45:18), and a gambling is counterproductive to this ideal. Indeed, on account of this approach, professional gamblers were disqualified by rabbinic law from being accepted as legitimate witnesses in a Jewish court of law.

Even according to this view, however, rabbinic authorities (for instance, Rivash) write that gambling should be avoided. Indeed, gambling on the sporting events of the time (pigeon races) was forbidden by the Sages as being counterproductive to the welfare of society.

In more recent times, the question of gambling arose in connection with government-sponsored lotteries. Some permitted participation in the lotteries as a form of taxpaying. In the U.S., Church “Bingo”-stuly fundraising activities have been copied by some synagogues, but rabbis are opposed this type of fundraising activity, saying that holiness should not seek to find its support in basically unholy projects.

Raffles are somewhat different to actual gambling, and rabbinic authorities have not voiced objections to fundraising by means of raffles.

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