With the World Cup coming up, one of your colleagues at work suggests a friendly sweepstake. Every person pays an entry fee and picks a team at random. The person whose team wins the competition gets the pot of money collected. They come around to your desk and ask if you want to take part.
A friend is raising money for their local hospice. They have some prizes which have been donated and are selling raffle tickets, with the proceeds going to the hospice funds. They ask if you want to buy a ticket.
Your local church is running a summer fête and one of the stalls is a tombola. An array of possible prizes can be won, and the money will go to the upkeep of the church. The person behind the stall asks if you want to play.
All of these scenarios are very common among our friends, in our workplaces, and in our local community. What might be surprising is that each one of these is considered gambling under the Gambling Act 2005. Each of them is classed as an ‘exempt lottery’ which can be run without a gambling licence.
Should we play?
The Bible does not expressly forbid Christians from taking part in lotteries. But, as this article explains, games like the National Lottery are generally an unwise thing to take part in. Lotteries, where there is a big payout but very little chance of winning, are not good stewardship of the money which God has given to us. They are usually driven by a desire to get rich, and run the risk of developing gambling addiction. As Paul tells his protégé Timothy:
Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.
But are the kind of games illustrated above the same as gambling in a casino or playing the National Lottery? While they are all classified as gambling by the law, is there a difference when it comes to participating as a Christian?
What’s the difference?
There are some significant differences between a workplace sweepstake or charity raffle, and a game like the National Lottery. First, these kinds of games are usually one-off. They happen once, and don’t happen again until the following year or the next tournament. They don’t offer the same opportunity to keep playing and develop an addiction that other gambling depends upon. Additionally, many of these kinds of ‘exempt lotteries’ only allow you to have one entry into the game (as specified in the gambling laws), further reducing the possibility of being drawn in into gambling harms.
Second, most of the time, these kinds of games are not about getting rich. A £1 stake in a Grand National sweepstake might win you a pot of perhaps £30. That might buy you a meal out, but it won’t change your life. You might win a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates from a tombola or raffle, but that will make little difference to your day to day life.
In a lot of cases, the aim for the raffle is not to win but to support a good cause. It really doesn’t matter if you win or lose, and you are not especially invested in the outcome of the game. What matters is the charity that is being supported. For workplace sweepstakes which are not for charity, the purpose is more for social interaction than financial gain. You might be invested in whether your team wins, not primarily because of the winnings but because of the lighthearted rivalry with your fellow colleagues.
Sweepstakes and raffles feel more like games than gambling. Where the aim is to support charities or build friendships, that may well be the case. But they are still gambling, and the warnings of stewardship, addiction, and love of money all still apply. As Christians, we need to be wise and cautious as we approach even these ‘lesser’ forms of gambling. If we have a problem with gambling, or might be susceptible to gambling harm, even ‘safer’ forms of gambling could be a trigger for more dangerous behaviours.
The Bible does not tell Christians they cannot play these kind of games, but it does tell us to be careful. Here are three principles that can help guide us as we think carefully about whether to take part:
Check your heart
When deciding on whether to participate in sweepstakes and raffles, it is good to heed Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount:
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Our heart follows the things that we treasure, or as one writer has put it, ‘you are what you love.’ We focus and strive for the things we most value in life. We therefore need to ask ourselves: What is my aim in playing this game? Is it to win, or to take part? Is it to gain or to give? Is it to grow closer to those around me, or to see myself as better than them?
As we have seen, workplace lotteries are not usually played in order to get rich. But the same desire to gain wealth can lie behind our desire to play. If we are not willing to lose what we stake for the fun of the game, or the charitable cause, without winning then we are playing with wrong motives. Paul tells Timothy:
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
Money has been given to us by God, whether we have much or little, for our good and enjoyment. The right way to use that money is to be generous and share, being rich in good deeds. This demonstrates that our true treasure is in heaven not in wealth here on earth. If we play so that we give money for the good of others, our hearts are focused on heavenly treasure.
Check your conscience
As he writes to the church in Rome, Paul counsels them about an issue of the time: what food a Christian should eat, and whether they should eat meat which has potentially been used in the worship of idols. Paul says:
One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them… Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.
Whether or not to play a workplace sweepstake is a matter of conscience for the Christian, much like the issue of eating meat in Paul’s day. People will come to different conclusions on the matter, and we must not look down on those who think differently than us.
The key, as Paul says, it to “be fully convinced” in our own minds. It is important for us to think and pray about whether to participate, and to take the action that we believe is most pleasing to God. For some that will be to play; for others it will be to abstain. As Paul tells the Corinthians about that same issue of which food to eat, “we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do” (1 Corinthians 8:8). We need to ensure our consciences are shaped by Scripture and then act in a way that ensures our conscience is clear.
We are also to be aware of the conscience of others (see 1 Corinthians 10:27-30). If our actions cause another person to stumble, we should refrain for doing so, even if we feel free to act in that way. If I am aware of a friend or colleague who struggles with gambling, and my participation in a raffle or sweepstake will be a temptation for them, I should not take part. Our care for those around us should trump any enjoyment we might gain.
Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Our aim is to “have a clear conscience and desire to live honourably in every way” (Hebrews 13:18). Some workplace lotteries can come with a fair amount of peer pressure to take part, which we need to be aware of. Nevertheless, our first aim should be to please the Lord and glorify him, rather than please or placate the people around us.
Make some changes
If your heart or conscience persuades you that this game will do more harm than good, you might be able to make some changes that will help.
If you have influence over the organisers of the game, you might want to make it optional. There can be pressure to participate in workplace sweepstakes or to buy raffle tickets from friends. Especially in the workplace, making a game optional rather than compulsory makes it easier to abstain. This will be helpful if your conscience tells you not to participate, and it makes it easier for others who might struggle with gambling to say no as well.
Another change that you might push for is to make it infrequent. One of the distinctions of these kinds of games is that they do not happen very often. A workplace sweepstake, for example, can be a lot of fun once in a while. When it happens every week, however, it becomes much more problematic. Using whatever influence you have to ensure that such games happen only infrequently will help you and help others.
A final option to consider is to make it nominal. Greed is a danger when there is the potential for a large payout. Making a sweepstake a nominal amount ensures that the winnings are never very large and the temptation to greed also remains small. Putting in a £1 stake is very different from £5 or £10, as the resulting prize money is much less.
Another alternative is to remove money from the game altogether. A World Cup or Grand National sweepstake can still be fun and build community without money changing hands. A random draw and light-hearted rivalry about who might win can still happen without a cash prize.
You may not have the influence to make these kind of changes to a raffle or a sweepstake. In those cases, we need our heart and our conscience to be informed by God’s word. We need to pray for the courage and conviction to abstain if we feel it is the right thing to do, and not fear being seen as a spoilsport. Above all else, we need to ensure that whatever we do, we “do it all for the glory of God” because he is the one we want to please.