> Just because .5% of the people in the country can't control themselves when gambling, it doesn't seem right to say that gambling is bad because it can be addictive.

Right. Although I am NOT a moral relativist, I think some moral questions depend on the person simply because we are all prone to different temptations. If you succumb to temptation when gambling, you shouldn't gamble. If you don't, then the line is probably drawn more leniently.

I'm not Catholic, but Faux Pas' statement on the Catholic church's stance is pretty much mine. Note that this doesn't particularly rule out playing poker for dimes with friends. I like to make bets with people for a penny (because my grandfather and I do that on occasion where we both have different recollections of a particular fact) or a nickel (because I used to flip for nickels with this kid in high school -- we'd each have a nickel, flip one and call it, and whoever won got both nickels). That's not really an undermining of the way the Bible says we should function within society.

However, that brings up a question I honestly don't know the answer to. The Bible basically says that if you don't work you shouldn't eat (barring extenuating circumstances, such as not being able to work, I'm sure). But if I won the megabucks (not that I play) or hit the jackpot (I played a slot machine at the base of the Sky Tower in New Zealand -- first and only time, I believe) then I wouldn't stop working. I'd certainly quit my day job, but I'd work on RinkWorks, write novels, maybe help Leen manage a barn. If I won enough, I'd go to Hollywood and make a movie. And I'd be supporting churches or missionaries or charities or *something* with the money I had.

How winning skillions of dollars, if this would be what I'd do with my life thereafter, might be a bad thing, I do not know.

The two sins I see with gambling are (1) addiction, and (2) ceasing to contribute to society afterward. There may indeed be more reasons why gambling is bad, but off-hand I couldn't tell you.