Lotteries and Gambling

When I answered the ring on the phone, just as I was rushing to pick up my heater, which I'd been informed was ready to be collected after repair, an attractive woman's voice resonated in my ear, asking me to buy a lottery ticket for a very good cause.

I realized that I had to make a choice; either to explain why I'm against lotteries or any sort of gambling or to fetch my heater.

It's pretty cold in Jerusalem these days so I went to fetch my heater and asked the lady to visit my blog and read why I object to buying lottery tickets or gambling of any sort.

Winning a fortune of money in return for very small outlay is such an exiting prospect that one can't blame people for buying lottery tickets or participating in other forms of gambling.

They are so excited in fact that they don't notice that they are being robbed. They are in fact being robbed firstly by the organisers of the lottery and secondly by the winners.

This makes the winner a thief who steals from many people, all the people who lost the gamble.

The winner's intention that the others should lose makes him a thief.

So at one and the same time someone who purchases a lottery ticket is both getting robbed and being a thief.

I don't want either. I'm all for getting lots of money but I'm against taking it from others without giving anything in return.