George Washington was right when he said, “Gambling is the child of avarice [greed], brother of iniquity, and the father of mischief.” Gambling is a deplorable evil and ought to be opposed. Why?
First, it exploits human weakness. It addicts people like alcohol or drugs. It clutches them in its bony fingers and squeezes them until they are impoverished. Dollars that should be spent on monthly installments for houses, furniture, food, cars, clothes, and medical bills are spent on gambling and thus a person's family, their creditors, and their employer all suffer because of vice.
Second, it corrupts whatever it touches. Let the gambling industry get interested in sports and they will soon try to bribe the players. People start out wanting to gamble, but their need becomes so great that they want a sure thing. Thus they try to eliminate the chance by cheating. Gambling is rooted in man’s greed and no good can come from it.
Third, gambling attracts other evils. Like a dead carcass attracts buzzards, so gambling attracts other parasites. Alcohol, prostitution, and gambling form a trinity of evil that always goes together. Licensed or unlicensed, it corrupts virtually everything it touches. Gambling is said to be one of the chief sources of income for organized crime.
We cannot stop all gambling. But we can stop most of it. For the sake of our families, our community, and our state, we ought to do all that we can to eliminate gambling.