The Lottery And Religon Essay Example

Many churches strongly oppose the lottery because it is a form of gambling, and the lottery system is a conniving system. In 2021, the Washington Lottery pulled in “950.73 million” in lottery ticket sales.(Statista) The reason for such a high figure is because the lottery deceives people into buying lottery tickets with the premise that, ”The next one is definitely a winner.” The lottery posts last week's/month’s winners' names near the vending machines. This gives the consumer the idea that his or her odds of winning are pretty good. The Washington Lottery is a dishonest system because it takes a big chunk of the consumer’s winnings through income taxes. “The IRS considers most types of income taxable” such as lottery winnings which are listed as gambling winnings.(Porter) The lottery offers the winner to have his payment all at once or over a period of time. Both of these options are subject to taxes. The amount that is listed on the lottery ticket is not the actual amount that the winner will end up with. 

The Bible does not say anything about the lottery itself, but it does have a critical opinion of the love of money. The lottery is for people who do not want to work diligently with their hands. 

“Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labor shall increase.”(Prov. 13:11, KJV, Bible Gateway) The lottery is also fueled by lust for money. The lottery promises an immense amount of money. The ones who pursue this “opportunity” are driven with lust and desire. They masquerade this motivation by stating it is because of their financial circumstances which forces them to take this chance. “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”(1 Timothy 6:10, KJV, BIble Gateway) 

The moral thing to do is to abolish the lottery system. People may argue that the lottery proceeds go to schools, roads, and other forms of government infrastructure. That is just an excuse for the government to drain the average citizen of his hard-earned money. Instead of spending that 1$ on something that has a low probability, the consumer should spend it on something more productive(ex. Buy some gum, donate to charity, buy a writing utensil etc.). The lottery was set up so that the state and federal government could have another source of income. There are many different avenues of revenue that the government can look into. The government should abandon this immoral, yet fruitful practice.