Opinion & Comment
Gambling is Decadent

The idea of legalized casino gambling, which is a perennial proposal in Israel, has recently received support from highly placed government officials. Although it was long considered unlikely in Israel, now powerful figures including the director of the prime minister's office and the Finance Minister have expressed support for the idea. Even though the prime minister and the attorney general have criticized legalized casino gambling, it is hard to say what the result will be.

Secular Israel always looks to America, and there gambling is spreading rapidly. Once it was confined to Las Vegas and then also to Atlantic City. However, over the last decade casinos have opened all across the American Midwest as states have jumped in to try to grab their share of the easy tax money and apparent prosperity that gambling brings in its wake. In many parts of America, Indians are allowed to open casinos on their reservations under special arrangements. Slot machines are springing up all over, and airports in such diverse locations in middle America as Kansas City, St. Louis, Omaha and Detroit try to entice travelers to gamble away their money. Americans now lose more than $68 billion a year in all types of gambling including lotteries, casinos and racetracks.

The big explosion in gambling in America occurred during the last dozen years, when gambling revenues more than doubled. In America, the federal government does not have any direct tax on gambling, but states raise more than $20 billion a year from it. Those are all very big numbers.

It is well known that when gambling becomes legalized, it attracts people who become addicted to it. In states where it is widespread, almost two percent of the population gets a gambling habit that they cannot control, and another three percent or so has problems that are not so severe.

The gambling habit is a very destructive one, and it can cost the addict very heavily. The price is not only the money lost, but often social and emotional problems that take a toll on family and friends and eventually also on social welfare agencies and sometimes the law enforcement agencies as well.

There are reports that the ultimate indirect costs to society more or less balance out any gains that are won by direct taxation. The director of the prime minister's office suggests that the tax money from casinos could bring funding for social and educational projects, but he is liable to find that there are new urgent bills from the social sicknesses that such gambling brings that will soak up the easy money from taxing the games.

Chazal have a very dim view of gambling. It is important to understand their reasoning. They say that such activities are not part of yishuvo shel olom, meaning that they are socially and economically useless. They contribute nothing to the world. Someone who is engaged in gambling full-time is not part of the normal economy. He (or she) adds nothing to the world through his gambling. If he wins, he makes money for doing nothing. If he breaks even, he has passed the time doing nothing. If he loses, he can cause serious social problems for himself and his family. The problems are often compounded since those most attracted to gambling are generally from socially weaker backgrounds.

It is probably due to the fact that it is so socially destructive that gambling often attracts other socially parasitic activities such as crime and vice. One form of decadence attracts other forms.

Supporters of legalizing gambling say that the advent of peace will surely bring Palestinian casinos that are accessible to Israeli citizens, and we should compete with them.

Our recommendation is that we concede such areas to our "competition," and work on improving the good things that we do and produce.

All material on this site is copyrighted and its use is restricted.
Click here for conditions of use.