Q&A: Gambling
Gambling
Question
Is it permitted according to Jewish law to gamble (money, of course) on, for example, a soccer game—which team will win—or to bet on a horse, and so on?
I’m asking because at school they always told me it was forbidden, because you’re playing around with the money that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave you, and you’re not allowed to gamble money because it is God who gives you your money, and all kinds of things like that.
In short, what is the law?
Answer
There are two halakhic aspects here: A dice-player is disqualified from giving testimony because he is idle and does not engage in a proper occupation (he occupies himself with inferior things that a reasonable person should not be involved in), and also because he is considered a robber (because this is an asmachta, a non-binding commitment made in reliance on an unlikely outcome). I think that nowadays institutionalized lotteries are not considered involvement in something that is not a proper occupation, and several halakhic decisors have written this as well. In Choshen Mishpat, section 370, subsection 3, the Shulchan Arukh and the Rema disagree over whether this is permitted for someone who has another profession.
But in non-institutionalized gambling there is a concern of theft, and it is preferable to be careful.
Discussion on Answer
A great deal has been written about this, and the halakhic decisors are divided on it. In my opinion there is no issue of asmachta there, since it is clear to the person that there is a good chance he will not win, and it is clear that he is not counting on getting his money back. It is hard to speak of theft in such a situation. Admittedly, this requires entering into the complicated Talmudic topic of asmachta, and this is not the place.
The state imposes a tax on stupidity through Mifal HaPais.
It is forbidden for a Jew to gamble (gambling is a false thing, and “keep far from a false matter”) (and it is also forbidden to be stupid; stupid people gamble).
It is permitted for a Jew to open a gambling house where non-Jews will gamble, on condition that the money he profits from the non-Jews he gives to charity for Jews.
And what about gambling on the stock market? Or even investments? There too you can lose all the money. Especially in the whole field of derivatives.
On the stock market it isn’t gambling but a transaction that involves uncertainty. I don’t know what derivatives are.
"Institutionalized lotteries are not considered involvement in something that is not a proper occupation"
But on the other hand, there’s still the problem of asmachta, and if so he turns out to be a robber!!
It seems that it is forbidden to participate in Mifal HaPais lotteries—isn’t that so?