Ignoring the costs

Ottawa Citizen offered a sampling of religious opinions about lotteries [worth reading in their entirety]:

As the religion experts: Are state-run lotteries a good or a bad thing?


Q: Are state-run lotteries a good or a bad thing?

ABDUL RASHID is a member of the Ottawa Muslim community, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue and the Capital Region Interfaith Council.

When the natural desire to increase one’s wealth degenerates into greed, it often leads to a desire to gain most with least effort. Gambling is an attempt to satisfy these deviations from natural traits. Although it has always existed in one form or another, it was always considered an evil practice. The Islamic prohibition of gambling in all forms is absolute (Holy Koran, 5:90).

In recent years, gambling has mushroomed across our society. It is indeed sad that the State, which is the protector of the poor and the weak, has now become an active promoter of this activity. This has opened the doors of disaster to individuals who, through their greed, lose their already meagre means. The evil effects permeate through families and then through the community at large.

There is a very dangerous argument made in favour of lotteries that these provide funds for worthy causes. The argument is in fact anti-social as it assumes that the members of the society are unwilling to support worthy causes and must be enticed into gambling. What a travesty to serve noble causes through ignoble means.

Gambling has now become not only a legalized activity and its promotion by various levels of government has raised it to a form of entertainment and a source of easy and quick income. Its social and economics costs have been pushed under the rug.

Addiction is a disease, irrespective of the nature of addiction. While governments argue that lotteries generate revenue to support social welfare programs, the negative impact of legalized gambling on the poor and the disadvantaged is huge. Many people at the lower end of income ladder consider it a means of quick income fix. The fact is that the addiction has serious consequences for both the addicted individual and his or her family.