Should a priest gamble?

Religiously speaking, isn't gambling considered a vice and ultimately a sin? As a priest, aren't you suppose to give up wordly desires for the Lord? Doesn't addiction to gambling imply you sinned? Now grant it, no one is perfect. And certainly not priests. I would imagine that priests have a higher calling and that society has an expectation of great sacrifice. I'm not saying be a monk or anything.

I would be concerned about where gambling leads. Even in moderation. Not sure if the Catechism states anything about gambling, but my overall impression would be that priests should not engage in such a vice. Leave that to us lost sheep.

Quote: EvenBob

Stealing from the Church to feed a gambling habit is appalling. They do lots of good works with that money, he should be horse whipped.

Yeah, ornate buildings need to be built by squeezing the poor, not by running around having fun gambling. There are Sausage Festivals that need to be organized and a whole new generation needs to see the church sponsoring Baskets of Cheer and Lottery Tickets and Bingo for little old ladies without money to buy food.

Collar in a casino? As they said to the young lady at the Montecito casino: Its a casino, not a convent. Show something!

Quote: heather

My understanding was that the whole idea behind the pari-mutuel concept, in fact the meaning of the French words "pari-mutuel", is "between us", that is, the betting that goes on at racetracks is between the bettors, who exchange wins and losses while the track covers its overhead in the form of a Takeout. What you seem to be saying is that, in casinos, the betting also takes place between bettors, while the casino covers its overhead in the form of HE (or rake, in poker). If that's how it is, then I'm not seeing how these two systems differ.

Wow, with the way this thread started out I never would have guessed that it would have left me baffled at whether the pari-mutuel concept is, in fact, unique to racetracks and certain types of slot machine.

Think of the concept of Dirty Chips. A lazy craps dealer may try to take one player's losing chips and use them to pay off a winner's bet, but he won't get away with it for long. One morning there were only two of us playing at one end of a craps table. He was on the DontPass and I was on the PassLine. The Dealer tried to take the other player's losing stack and move it over to pay my winning bet but I reamed that Dealer but good and told him a players losses are dirty and he must take those dirty chips back to his working area and tap them atop his working stack to clean them and only then may he hand me the chips as my winning. The house must always pay off a bet with clean chips, not dirty ones.

Its up to the house to have sufficient "N" to be able to pay off the Reds with those who bet on Black and to silently chortle when Green rolls. The casino backs all bets at the tables and it is most definitely NOT pari-mutuel.

Quote: FrGamble

I have been amazed at the topics that have been discussed on this forum in the short time I have been a member. I have also been impressed by the way in which they have been discussed (for the most part). I thought this forum was just going to allow me to be part of a discussion on gambling, but it has been much more - thanks for that. With a little bit of trepidation but with confidence in previous strange questions I wanted to ask if you thought a priest should try his luck at gambling?

Not sure how I missed this thread last fall, but I guess I did. Well, I as others don't have a big problem with it as long as it is with his own salary cash and is in moderation. I'd suggest wearing civilian clothes to the casino, however. To wear the black outfit and white collar at the craps table, well it just does't look right.

Here is my logic. First, forget any jokes about how you will find more people praying harder in the casino than in the church. People seem to think of priests and nuns as sort-of "other than regular people." In sixth grade a nun who taught us had her 50th anniversary as a nun and we were to get a gift as a class. Suggestions of "a nice bible" came in from the class. The other teacher for our grade (we had only 2 as 6th grade was isolated from "litte kids we would terrorize" below us and "big kids who would terrorize up" above us, at least that seemed to be the school's logic) said, "she is a regular person and she has been a nun for 50 years, she has all the bibles she will ever need!" One thing we knew she did like was, shoes! Yes, let a woman be a nun for 50 years and she will still like shoes! So we got a $50 money-tree and let her pick what she wanted, shoes being next to impossible to buy for someone else like that. Never knew what she bought with the cash, but good chance it was shoes.

Same parish, same time we had a young priest. He eventually left the priesthood, a shame as he was the only one there who delivered a good homily. I jmean, people loved when they found out he was doing the Mass. Though if you switched up times you could get a re-run, he played to the time-slot if it was not a special-ocasion Mass. Anyways, one of his homolies was that he was nearly in a bar-fight with a guy who refused to believe he was a priest. He might have made the story up (for a homily I would hope not!) and at the least it was embellished. But I can see it happening.

Sit at a bar, "Hey, what do you do?"
"I'm a priest."
"No, really, what do you do."
"I just told you."
"Look, buddy, if you don't want to tell me just say so, don't make up stuff like that!"

Another time before Mass he sent the other altar boy up to his room to get something for him. (Some kind of hand-carved challace IIRC. They each had their own challace and before mass a sharp-eye knew who was saying it by the set-up.) Kid comes back and couldn't believe it was a priest's room. Loads of hard-rock music (some on 8-track tapes!); rowing machine, nice TV set. We thought they lived like monks and prayed all night or something. So the guy showed us all of their rooms. He was the youngest and had the most contemporary room. The guy in mid-age of all of them, but still about 30, not quite as wild but still a room where you might or might not think he was a priest. Pastor had a room that looked like the priest-rooms you might see in a movie. A big TVroom for all of them, big enough that they could easilh have ten people over to visit. We were amazed.

And sometimes Mass was even intentionally quick during the week. We tried to slow it, we were getting out of class! But sometimes you would hear, "lets make this a quickie!" No hymns, no embellishment, heck sometimes no homily. In and out, 25 minutes. I assume they had something else on the schedule.

So, sorry for the drawn-out. But knowing all that, if I see the you or local priest at the craps table I will be happy to chat it up. Talk craps, sports, whatever. I iknow the guy will appriciate the "break" and to be treated as a normal person.

Quote: EvenBob

Its really comes down to, is it a wise use of God’s resources of time and money?
To squander both in a casino seems unproductive in the extreme, and beneath
someone who others in the Church look to for guidance.

It's as right for a priest (or any parishoner) to gamble to a casino's profit as it is for churches to play BINGO to raise money for an indeterminable "charity". Profit (creating values) is just as spiritual as charity (giving created values away).

Does this not say enough?

http://news.yahoo.com/gambling-priest-gets-3-years-prison-vegas-case-201550987.html

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

Does this not say enough?

I think it says you shouldn't embezzle your gambling bankroll. That's good advice for anyone, including priests.