God promised it would happen. "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die," God cautioned Adam in Genesis 2:17. But Adam and Eve did not believe the warning. They concluded they knew more than God did and ate the forbidden fruit.
You know what happened next. Their innocence died and they hid behind fig leaves. Their relationship to each other died, and Adam blamed Eve for his problems, while Eve blamed the serpent. Their relationship to God died, and they hid from Him. Their idyllic state died and they were driven from Eden.
Unintended consequences of an uninformed decision? Perhaps. But God told them what would happen. The problem was not on God’s part. The fault lay with Adam and Eve, who chose to ignore all their history with God in order to chase a different dream. What was true of Adam and Eve is true of many individuals today. Disregard of God’s Word leads them to chase some forbidden fruit.
What is true of individuals is also true of corporate expressions of humanity such as government entities. That principle is clearly seen today as two Alabama counties and the state of Alabama itself ponder the forbidden fruit of electronic gambling.
While some forms of gambling have already been legalized in the state, there is no question that gambling violates the principles of God’s Word. One cannot "[l]ove your neighbor as yourself," a commandment of our Lord, when one covets the neighbor’s money and property. Gambling is trying to take something that belongs to another without exchanging something of equal value. Gambling appeals to the basest desires of humanity, not to the nobler characteristics advocated by Jesus.
There can be no doubt that historically gambling has proven itself dishonest. That is why the English monarch Richard II banned gambling in 1388 and why most states in this nation had laws against gambling until just a relatively few years ago.
Few question the corrupting nature of gambling. Recent experience speaks for itself: 17 legislators in South Carolina guilty of accepting bribes from gamblers, 15 legislators in Kentucky guilty of similar offenses, more than 10 legislators in Louisiana investigated on bribery charges, the speaker of the House of Representatives in both Missouri and Florida involved in deals with gambling companies and the former governor of Louisiana convicted of extortion related to gamblers.
Testifying before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, former Illinois Sen. Paul Simon said gambling "has more of a history of corruption than any other industry" and experience proves him true.
There also is little debate over the fact that governments spend more to treat the results of gambling than they make in taxes on gambling. In Wisconsin, for example, the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute estimates the total cost to state taxpayers related to average problem gamblers is more than $300 million. Gov. Jim Doyle told Wisconsin residents the state expected to receive $69.3 million in gambling receipts in 2004. A study of southern Nevada (Las Vegas) placed the social cost of gambling at between $302 million and $470 million. That equals about 7 percent of all the gambling proceeds of the region — about $7 billion.
There can be no doubt that gambling is harmful to families. After casinos arrived on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a Harrison County shelter experienced a 300 percent increase in the number of requests for domestic abuse intervention. Those with gambling problems have a higher suicide rate than those with any other addiction. The divorce rate is almost three times as high for this group, and child abuse numbers soar way above the national average. Dysfunctional behaviors abound.
Few people were surprised that Atlantic City, N.J., went from 50th in per capita crime rate to first after legalized gambling came to town. A study by the U.S. Department of Justice showed that people with gambling problems were arrested at a rate three to five times higher than the general population. That is because of the high incidents of theft, assault, bad checks, drug sales, etc. — many times to gamble or pay gambling debts.
And few people doubt that video gambling (like electronic bingo) is the game of choice. It was identified as the major attraction by problem gamblers in the Las Vegas study. Video gambling has been called the "crack cocaine" of gambling. That is one reason why the number of problem gamblers increases up to four times the national average wherever these games are introduced.
With such a record, why would anyone consider this forbidden fruit? Its ultimate end is disaster for those who gamble, for their loved ones and for their communities. A few dollars for road construction cannot be that important to a community. Can the state hide behind a few dollars for Medicaid while damning its citizens to the results of legalized gambling?
Some officials in the Dothan area contend they want their community to be another Branson, Mo., a center for country music. But when electronic gambling was added to plans for an entertainment complex complete with big-name music stars, Business Alabama magazine, in its April edition, compared the development to Las Vegas, pointing out that Branson does not have gambling. Is that what Alabama needs?
Like individuals, government entities can go after a forbidden fruit like legalized gambling. But when that fruit is tasted, the results will be destructive. A far better choice is to heed the counsel of God’s Word and the advice of history. Government entities and individuals alike should say no to the forbidden fruit of electronic gambling.
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