The Gambling Hustle
The recent death of Pete Rose has rekindled a decades-old debate about his place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. “Charlie Hustle” was indisputably one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Some argue that he was the greatest. However, despite being named an All Star seventeen times and holding the MLB record for number of career hits, in 1991 Rose was declared permanently ineligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The reason? Rose gambled on baseball games while he was a player and a manager. He was accused of betting on games in which his own team was playing. If a gambler can influence the outcome of games on which he is betting, the integrity of the game is forfeit. This is why for most of the history of American professional sports, even the most remote connection with gambling was strictly prohibited.
That changed in 2018. Before then, not only did professional sports leagues ban any relation with gambling, but sports betting was also against the law in every state. Now most states have legalized it. Broadcast networks and professional sports welcome gaming advertising as a major source of revenue. In 2024, an anticipated thirty-five billion (with a B) dollars will be bet on NFL games alone. What was once universally viewed as a harmful vice is now widely accepted as harmless entertainment. But is it?
Recently UCLA and the University of Southern California published a research paper on the effects of sports gaming on roughly seven million Americans. The study showed that in states allowing sports betting, the average credit score has fallen three times the average of the score in states that do not permit it. Since most people do not gamble, this represents enormous economic harm to individuals that do, sinking the overall average. The study also showed a marked increase in bankruptcy filing rates, debt collection, and debt consolidation loan costs. In states that legalized sports betting, automobile loan delinquencies rose nine percent. This study revealed a clear correlation between gambling and financial damage.
Gambling was once commonly seen as destructive, fostering debt, family dysfunction, and crime. This understanding has been largely lost. Most Christians used to recognize that gambling violates biblical principles, but no more. There needs to be a reminder.
Gambling contradicts the biblical work ethic. The Scripture identifies two legitimate means of obtaining wealth: inheritance (Pr 13:22; 19:14), and honest labor (Pr 10:4: 12:11; 14:23). When an individual seeks to get rich by circumventing these means, he is seeking something outside the will of God.
Gambling contradicts prohibitions against greed and covetousness. It is important to understand the three elements in the gambling equation: First, the betting of money or valuables. Second, the determination of winning by chance or uncertain events. Third, winners profit at the expense of losers (unlike commerce or business in which both parties gain in a transaction). The tenth commandment forbids coveting what is rightfully another’s. (Ex 20:17) The Bible warns that those who aspire to get rich quick fall into a trap that brings ruin and sorrow. (1 Tim 6:6-10)
Gambling contradicts the truth that God is in control. Gamblers imagine that outcomes are the result of luck, or good fortune. It is atheistic to assume that there is no God governing in the affairs of men. (1 Chron. 29:11, 12; Pro. 16:33)
There are several definitions for the word, hustle. One is energetic action. This is where Pete Rose got his nickname. He played baseball with great intensity. Another definition of hustle is a fraud or swindle. We will never know whether Pete Rose cheated while he played or managed to win at gambling. What we do know is, like most who gamble, Rose defrauded himself. His gambling cost him the great honor of enshrinement in Cooperstown. Gambling lies by promising pleasure and riches when most often it delivers poverty and sadness. Apparently, Charlie Hustle was a good nickname either way.
David A. Oliver is the pastor of Ashley Baptist Church in Belding, MI.