I have always found it interesting that churches across the United States will host gambling events, seeing that gambling is considered to be a vise. There are two interesting sides to this issue that have been debated for years.

Pro-Gambling

Those who are for churches hosting gambling events believe that it is a necessary evil for raising extra money for the church. There are some churches that will make more during the year from bingo, Vegas nights, and poker tournaments then throughout the entire year.

These supporters believe that since the church keeps dollar limits on the bets that can be wagered, then it is easier to keep any gambling afflictions in check. They believe that these restrictions prevent someone from becoming addicted to gambling.

They will also point out that many churches have policies in which players can be banned if someone believes that their gambling is getting out of hand. This is an extra measure that can be taken in case someone is taking the entertainment a little too far.

Anti-Gambling

The opponents of gambling in churches believe that it is a contradiction of the teachings of the church. Gambling is considered to be a vise that should be avoided, but the church believes that it should be avoided on night in which someone is not dropping money on bingo.

The opponents believe that the dollar limits encourage longer playtime. This longer playtime will encourage a person to gamble more. This, in turn, will make it more likely that a person will become addicted to gambling.

When the issue comes up about banning people that have a gambling problem, many of the opponents of church gambling laugh. They believe that it would be hard for someone to point out a person with problem gambling because of the fact that people who run the church gambling nights are not experts in the field of addictive behavior.

They are also quick to point out that even casinos have made statements in the past about banning people with obvious gambling problems. These casinos end up allowing the players to keep playing so that they can extract more money from their pockets.

Such casinos have all kinds of games available right from judi online to blackjack and poker as they know that even the best players of resilience always succumb to the temptation of gambling when the stakes are high.

They same, they believe, will go for churches that allow gambling. There are many that would turn the other way as long as someone keeps pulling money out of his or her pocket.

This debate has gone on for many years, and will continue to gain more and more momentum in the future. It will be interesting to see if the churches ever ban their cash cow.