Linda Selymes started gambling two years before her retirement. She went through $500,000 in retirement savings, fell behind on house payments, and hated the person she had become.

At the height of her addiction, she would draw out $500 from her credit union account and head for the casino. After losing that, she would use her debit card to get another $500, then add $300 more to credit cards.

Finally, her family and her doctor convinced her to get help. It took several months to eventually gain control and completely stop gambling. She now says she will never stop going to her support group meetings because she knows that if she gambles again, she will be on the fast-track to being back where she was (“Older Adults Vulnerable to Gambling Addiction,” Grand Forks Herald, December 3, 2005).

Not everyone will become addicted to gambling like Linda Selymes, but no one knows who will and who won’t. For many, what starts out as “entertainment” becomes an addiction that will control them and control their future. When a person chooses to gamble, he truly gambles with his life.

Gambling violates biblical principles, contributes to crime and corruption, and disrupts the economy. Along the way, it destroys lives and hurts innocent people.

In short, it defies justification and Christians should flee from its every form.

The impact resource on gambling is full-color and available here as a downloadable pdf. It may be output to a color or black and white printer or copied to a CD and printed at a local copy center. You may make as many copies as you need. While the impact is designed to be copied front and back as a single sheet, it can also be a two-page stapled resource.