Is Bingo night at church a sin? Isn't it gambling?

Answer 1

Have you ever been to a bingo night? There isn't big money going on there. It's to raise money, socialize and have a little fun.

Answer 2

The issue with gambling is that most casinos are set up so that a person can (easily) lose lots of money and cause problems for themselves, their family, etc.

Bingo is a money raiser. A small fee is paid to participate. Half the money paid in goes to the charity or church. Nobody anticipate winning (or losing) more than a few bucks. It is done for "fun" with the motive of helping a cause, not winning cash.

While I suppose it might be possible to get "addicted" to the fun of playing Bingo, it is unlikely that you could lose the kind of money or get in the kind of trouble that you can with casino gambling.

So the things that are the real issue with "gambling" are not found in Bingo.

Oh, and there is no scripture against gambling.

Answer 3

Yeah. Bingo for money or items is gambling. Just because it's played at a church and the proceeds may be donated to a good cause doesn't change the fact that it's still gambling.

Good question.

Answer 4

The BIG sin is them taking advantage of the Seniors for their profit center. They say it is for entertainment and social activities. I am a senior and I know many who will go and loose 30 to 50 dollars each week just to have something to do. That might not seem much to some but when one is on a fixed income that amounts to quite a bit. The Senior Citizens Centers that are not affiliated with any church have all types of entertainment and social activities for free. They serve wonderful lunches and one can make a donation of $2.00 for the lunch if they want to. They provide transportation to the center and if one is not able to get out they have volunteers that will deliver free meals. No one penny in funding come from any "Church". NO "Church" will ever do that..It is very sad.. I can go on with what many of these denominations do but that one example should be enough. They do NOTHING that does not put money in their coffers.

Answer 5

Christians can find an excuse to do anything they want but does not their own bible condemn gambling ?
They can be such hypocrites.
1. Drunkenness is wrong how many who call themselves Christians drink ?
2 .Sex before marriage is wrong. How many Christians answer this question on R&S that say it is ok ?
3 Gambling is wrong .Did I see someone answer it's ok if it's for fun ?Is that what the bible teaches ?
I could go on , but what would be the point?They will justify it in their own mines.
I wonder what their Jesus would say to them.

Some Christians not all.

Answer 6

Yes you are right its a contradiction the only reason why it even happens is because meanwhile people are buying food and other sorts of things to help the church

Answer 7

My goodness who cares? I have enough of my own sins to worry about without worrying about church Bingo.

Answer 8

Though I dont gamble, nowhere in the Bible is it called sin. Sampson was a gambler that led to to other sins.

Now going to church, that may very well be a sin.

Answer 9

It is gambling. True Christians do NOT gamble, not even "for fun".

1.Gambling Fever and Religion

“The Catholic Church has taught me to gamble. Bingo and raffles are absolutely no different from lotteries. If the Catholic Church would take the lead and stop all gambling, I would reconsider the idea of refraining from playing the lottery. If I am greedy, it is because it’s almost a sacrament in the Church.”—Reader to the U.S. Catholic magazine.

“After the Sunday Mass, the second best-attended function at Catholic churches are the weekly bingo games, according to a survey of Catholic parishes by Notre Dame University.” However, several priests claim that most of those who attend the bingo games do not go to church.—The Sunday Star-Ledger, New Jersey, U.S.A.

“Saint Pancras Brought Good Luck to Madrid” was the headline in the Spanish weekly ABC, international edition. The article continued: “‘It was Saint Pancras’ exclaimed again and again the two employees of the lottery store . . . where they had sold the only series of 21515, the ‘gordo’ [big one] worth 250 million [pesetas, or today, $2,500,000, U.S.], which has been distributed in Madrid. [The employees] confessed that they had prayed to the saint, whose image presides over their establishment and on which they had placed a sprig of parsley, to have the good fortune to sell the Christmas ‘gordo.’”

“Trying to find ways to explain their good fortune, the older winners tended to believe that God and destiny had singled them out to win the money. . . . ‘We want to believe that good fortune and bad fortune are attributed to something, not an accident,’ said Dr. Jack A. Kapchan, a psychology professor at the University of Miami. ‘And what else is there to attribute it to but God?’”—The New York Times.

What does the Bible say about good luck? To the unfaithful in Israel, Jehovah said: “But you men are those leaving Jehovah, those forgetting my holy mountain, those setting in order a table for the god of Good Luck and those filling up mixed wine for the god of Destiny.”—Isaiah 65:11.

How many of the relatively few winners stop to think that their isolated good fortune is based on the bad fortune of millions of losers? Does gambling reflect ‘love of neighbor’ in any way? Is it reasonable or Biblical to think that the Sovereign Lord of the universe should involve himself in such selfish vices as gambling?—Matthew 22:39.

2.In 1994, in many of the southern states, where only a short time ago gambling was considered a sinful activity, it is now welcomed with open arms and considered a savior. “Today, the Bible Belt might as well be renamed the Blackjack Belt, with floating and land-based casinos throughout Mississippi and Louisiana and plans for more in Florida, Texas, Alabama and Arkansas,” observed the U.S.News & World Report. Some religious leaders are now doing a 180-degree turn in their thinking about gambling being sinful. For example, when city officials of New Orleans, Louisiana, christened its first floating casino on the Mississippi River in 1994, one clergyman offered a prayer, thanking God for “the ability to play: a virtue with which,” he said “you have blessed the city.”

3.Gamblers Lose

“Casinos are so made that their owners by no means lose money,” says Brazilian economist Ricardo Gazel. “The mathematical chances that a person will get money from gambling are minimal.” Warning that easy access to casinos will most likely create more gambling addicts, Gazel adds: “There is the illusory prospect of earning money without much effort. People dream of the possibility that in a stroke of good luck, they will get rich quick.” Further, Veja quotes him as saying regarding the lack of basis for criticism by church or government: “The government is the biggest gambling establishment in the country. There are six different kinds of lotteries maintained by the federal government, not to mention state lotteries. The church cannot criticize the legalizing of gambling because to raise money for the parishes, the church promotes the habit at bazaars, where there is always a small stand at which the faithful lose money betting.” According to Gazel, ‘specialists say that compulsive gamblers who do not seek help run the risk of ending up in prison, committing suicide, or going insane.’

Answer 10

A great sin..not for churches to do this. This type of thing should be done in Casinos..
Jesus said his house was a house of prayer..