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Real Answers™
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Copyright: © 2006 Gary Hardaway
585 words

MONEY LOST IN GAMBLING COSTS SOCIETY EVEN MORE

By: Gary Hardaway

Three years ago former Secretary of Education, William Bennett was videotaped in a Las Vegas casino, a glassy, bored expression on his face, mindlessly feeding vast sums into a slot machine. Soon it was revealed that Bennett had gambled away approximately eight million dollars over the years.

Gloating pundits took particular glee in the news. Bennett, a morally conservative, religious man, had authored the highly popular "The Book of Virtue," a primer on developing courage and character in youth.

The word "hypocrite" now surfaced. Critics enjoyed portraying Bennett as a talker about virtue who practiced vice. They found it quite amusing that a champion of traditional morals had tumbled from his pedestal. Bennett himself expressed embarrassment and remorse, declaring ""I have done too much gambling, and this is not an example I wish to set . Therefore, my gambling days are over."

In recent days former NBA star Charles Barkley has admitted that his gambling habit has cost him over ten million dollars. Barkley, however, shrugs the losses off as no big deal. "I understand that's a lot of money, but it is my money. Nobody has the right to tell me what to do with my money."

Meanwhile, golfer John Daly, who has battled alcoholism most of his life, estimates that he has dropped between fifty to sixty million in the casinos. His uncontrollable urge threatens to ruin his career and life.

As casinos have multiplied across the country, as on-line betting has swept millions into its net, many ask, "What's the harm?" Though eight million dollars poorer, Bennett is still rich. Ditto for Barkley, who says, "It's not a problem. If you're a drug addict or an alcoholic, those are problems. I gamble for too much money. As long as I can continue to do it, I don't think it's a problem."

Daly, on the other hand, may soon face real financial distress. Even if he's solvent, his addiction keeps him in a state of slavery. At last report, he is unwilling to seek treatment.

Many arguments can be made against the curse of gambling and the industry that sustains it. I'll offer one more. Bennett's eight million could have funded private school scholarships for over a thousand kids trapped in crime-ridden ghetto schools. Barkley could have invested his ten million in feeding thousands of starving families in parched regions in Africa. Daly could have funded a chain of alcohol rehab centers that would have enabled hundreds to overcome their deadly weakness.

The flagrant waste cries out; those millions could have done so much good. As endowments, that money could have kept on giving hope, help, and happiness for decades. It would been more sensible and better morally to have burned all that cash in the stove of a poor widow whose cold house lacked heating oil.

The Bible declares that "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Yet that doesn't explain the addictive power of gambling. For both rich and poor, money is not the driving motive. Some deeper, darker destruction is at work.

All vices have one thing in common: they turn a person's entire being into an insatiable maw of self-indulgence and self-absorption. Concern for others vanishes down that dark abyss. One's nervous system becomes the key to the universe.

Winning excites the neurons, but so does losing. Losing feeds the ego almost as much as winning. For a few hours the cards or the dice bring tingling, pulse-pounding thrills - and nothing else matters. Nothing and no one.

Gambling offers temporary escape into the illusion of total irresponsibility. In a word: insanity. Sanity, however, refuses to sell one's soul to a deck of cards or a pair of dice.

Jesus, the sanest person who ever lived, taught us that we are stewards of our resources. We are responsible for managing the good things at our disposal.

Much history and experience prove this truth. A life of giving, sharing, and serving others greatly exceeds the psychic payoff that comes from drawing four aces or a throwing a run of sevens.

Gary Hardaway has taught in universities in the USA, Lithuania and Canada. He holds a Ph. D. in foundations of education. "Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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