William Wilberforce is probably best known for his tireless campaign against slavery and the slave trade, driven by his Christian convictions. He was supported by a group of Christians who from Holy Trinity Clapham, known as the ‘Clapham Sect,’ and especially by fellow Christian MP, Henry Thornton.
A decisive vote by Parliament in 1807 abolished the British slave trade (it would take 26 more years to abolish slave labour entirely). After the vote, where Wilberforce was applauded by fellow MPs, he gleefully asked Henry Thornton, “Well, Henry, what shall we abolish next?” To which Thornton replied, “The lottery, I think!”
Wilberforce and Thornton did indeed campaign against the lottery and other gambling laws. Lotteries had been held in England since the sixteenth century, and games raised money to build Westminster Bridge in the 1730s and the British Museum in the 1750s. Wilberforce, however, called the National Lottery of his day ‘a national sin’ and his work, along with others, led to the final draw being held in 1826.
Why was someone like Wilberforce so opposed to a National Lottery? Can Christians take part in the lottery today, or should we be following Wilberforce’s lead in abolishing it?
A matter of conscience
There is no specific Bible verse that tells us it is wrong (or right) to take part in a game like the National Lottery. The closest we get to something like the lottery is the practice of casting lots, usually to make decisions. Sometimes this is seen in a positive light, such as the choosing of Matthias to replace Judas as an apostle (Acts 1:23-26). At other times, casting lots is viewed negatively, in the same category as injustice, wickedness and idolatry (e.g. Ezekiel 21:21).
Because there is no explicit Biblical injunction to playing the lottery, most Christians would see it as a matter of conscience. Some would feel free to play, while others would not. Paul addresses such matters with the church in Rome, where their disagreement was not over the lottery but what food to eat:
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.
Where Christians disagree on whether something is right or wrong, we can act differently without judging those with a different opinion. The key is to be fully convinced in our own minds about what the Bible has to say, and what pleases God in this matter. We should not just go along with the cultural tide, but ensure we are persuaded by Scripture of our position.
So let’s take a look at what the Bible has to say about the principles behind the lottery to guide our decisions.
Stewardship of money
While the Bible doesn’t speak explicitly about playing the National Lottery, it does speak clearly about our use of money.
Scripture’s position is that whatever resources we have are not our own but have been given to us by God. Paul tells the Corinthians: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7) Everything we have, from our money to our homes, jobs, talents, time, and possessions, has come to us as a gift from God.
Since what we have is God’s, we need to be careful about how we use it. God gives us freedom to choose how to use what he has given, but we should honour God’s generosity by using his gifts wisely. Peter talks about our gifts as God’s grace to us, and says:
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.
We are to be stewards of God’s grace, from the gifts and abilities he has given us for the building up of the church, to the money and resources he has given to us to live on.
So is the lottery a good stewarding of God’s money? It would be difficult to argue that it is. There is a very low chance of winning: one in 45 million to win the Lotto jackpot, and one in 139 million for EuroMillions. You have a much greater chance of being struck by lightning (one in 163,000), becoming an Olympic athlete (one in 500,000) or becoming an astronaut (only one in 800!).
The problem with the National Lottery’s stewarding of money is that whether you win or not, you lose your stake. Compare that with something like Premium Bonds: you have a small chance of winning (one in 22,000) but you do not lose the money you put in. You can withdraw your money at any point and the worst that happens is that you end up where you have started.
Jesus spells stewardship out for us in the Parable of the Talents (called the Parable of the Bags of Gold in the modern NIV translation). A master entrusts his servants with money and returns to see what they have done with it. One servant, who had one bag of gold, buried the money. The master’s verdict is that the servant is wicked and lazy, saying: “Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest” (Matthew 25:27).
Jesus’ principle of stewardship here (which can apply to more than money) is to use it not lose it. It would be hard to see the servant spending the bag of gold on lottery tickets and getting a better judgement from his returning master.
Risks of addiction
The National Lottery is gambling with your money, albeit mediated through the more acceptable venue of a newsagent rather than a casino. Gambling, however, comes with risks: not just the risk of losing your money, but the risk of becoming addicted.
Lotteries come with lower risks of addiction than, say, betting or slot machines. Nevertheless, they still risk harm from gambling and could lead to gambling habits that come with much greater risks. Scratch cards, another aspect of National Lottery products, are felt to be one of the most addictive gambling products and one in 16 people who use them experience ‘problem gambling’.
While there is no verse prohibiting lotteries in the Bible, we are told in Scripture to avoid anything that has control over us. Paul tells the Corinthians, for example:
“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
We have freedom as Christians to play the lottery, but we might recognise that it is not beneficial to us. If something risks us being mastered by it, then we need to avoid that temptation.
Not everyone who plays the National Lottery will become addicted to gambling. It may be that you feel this is not a risk for you, and so you feel free to take part. Nevertheless, as Christians we also need to consider how our actions affect other people. If we take part in gambling activities, such as the lottery, will that act as a temptation for others who might be more at risk of developing an addiction to gambling?
I might have freedom to play the lottery, but I must use that freedom to build others up, not cause them to stumble (Romans 14:13). Once again, Paul talks about this issue in relation to the food people were eating. He says:
If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.
To paraphrase Paul’s word a few verses later: It is better not to buy a lottery ticket or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall (Romans 14:21).
Desire to be rich
It can be helpful with the lottery, as well as anything else we are unsure about, to ask why we are taking part.
There are certainly benefits that come from winning a large amount of money (as well as many documented problems that come with it too). What often drives someone to play, however, is a desire to get money without working for it. To have things that we could not normally afford, and to have things that other people have that we do not.
Some will play the lottery as the only solution they can see to get out of debt or other financial difficulties. But for many the motivation for playing the lottery is greed and envy. We lack contentment about the things that God has given to us, and wish that God had given us more. We desire to be rich, and that is something that Jesus warns us about:
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
When we are driven by a desire to be rich, we believe that money will solve all our problems. If only I had that kind of house, that kind of car, that kind of holiday, then I will be happy and content. Reality shows that those who have riches are not immune to the struggles and worries of life, however. Money is not the solution to our problems, but money soon takes first place in our life. As James warns:
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. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
The love of money is dangerous, and especially dangerous for those who are followers of Jesus. Money wants to take the top spot in our lives which is reserved for God alone. Riches, and a desire for riches, is spiritually hazardous to our health.
Love your neighbour
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in the Old Testament Law, he replied by summing up all of the Bible’s ethical teaching in two commands:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
We are created by God to love God, and to love our neighbour. In every decision, we should ask ourselves, how is this helping me to love God and neighbour?
Is it loving to our neighbour to play the lottery? To answer that, we need to consider where the money is coming from. After all, the lottery jackpot does not appear out of thin air. It comes from the money spent by those playing the lottery, the vast majority of whom get nothing in return.
In the UK, those who are poor are more likely to play the lottery than those who are more affluent, and they spend a higher percentage of their income doing so. The situation is very similar in US lotteries as well. As a headline in The Telegraph once put it, the National Lottery is a ‘tax on the poor’.
As Christians, if we play the National Lottery, we have to realise that the money we (might) win comes from many of the poorest in our society. As author Paul David Tripp writes regarding American lotteries:
I think there is something that is never talked about in the secular world or in the Christian world, “When I win the lottery, where is my money coming from? Whose money am I then taking?” … I'm taking the money of millions of poor people. Fortune Magazine says … “The poorest households in America play the lottery thirty-three times more than households that are not poor.” That is deeply convicting. So, when I win the lottery, I am actually taking out of the pockets millions of dollars from people who have nothing and are hoping somehow, they'll get rich quick… Would you walk around your city and take whatever coins homeless people have from them until you had enough to buy a big car? You would never do that! But the lottery … makes it cosmetic and acceptable because you don't see those people, you don't know who they are, you're not face to face. But that money is largely coming from, all the statistics say that, people who have nothing.
The Bible has stern words for those who take money from the poor to make themselves rich:
One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty.
We might want to win the lottery, and have positive and charitable things we would do with the money. But we have to consider that the money comes from the poorest in society, and we run the risk of exploiting the least to make ourselves rich.
Free not to play
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
As Christians we have great freedom. Yet, although we are free, we are to use our freedom wisely. We are free to play the lottery, and we are free not to play as well. Our choice depends on what will best please God. Is this a wise use of our money? Does this love my neighbour? Does it expose myself or others to risk? Does it reveal a desire to be rich? The choice is ours, but the weight of the Bible’s witness suggests it would be wiser not to play.