Why cannot chor tai dee?

Where does it say in the Bible that it is wrong to gamble?

No where.

So, why do we get so uptight about gambling? Why do we say it’s wrong to gamble with card games during Chinese New Year? Why do we say it’s wrong to go to casinos? Why do we say it’s not right to buy lottery tickets? Isn’t the stock market a form of legalized gambling?

Actually, we don’t have to get legalistic about this. The principle is very simple. It can be found no further than the second commandment.

“You shall have no other gods before Me.” (Exodus 20:3).

You see, it basically boils down to a matter of greed. If the activity of gambling facilitates our greed, then our greed will lead to idolatry. Money becomes the god that occupies our heart.

Back to the Chinese New Year thing. Why is it that we can’t gamble? Gambling with only a few cents won’t hurt, will it? What if we use peanuts? What’s a few bucks, as long as I don’t raise the stakes above RM2 per round?

The question is not the amount of the bet. The question is, why bet at all? If the stakes are too small, it wouldn’t hurt if you lose. It wouldn’t be pleasurable if you win. It is too small to have any significance in any way, isn’t it?

So why bet at all? Play it for free, purely for pleasure.

Ah… Then it’s not so fun anymore, isn’t it? Admit it. Placing a bet, however small, made all the difference.

So, what if I limit myself to just small bets? Having little pleasures in life wouldn’t hurt, will it?

Yeah, true. But you see, human tolerance for pleasure is stretchable. The small things that once brought pleasure won’t be pleasurable anymore after some time. You’ll want bigger pleasures. You’ll want to place bigger bets to get the same effect.

Hence, down the slippery slope we go. Soon, we can no longer tell the difference whether we’re playing it for pleasure, or to fulfill an addiction.

Before we know it, we’ll be just too ready to pull out a deck of cards with some coins on the table to while away our time. “Just for pleasure,” we’ll say. Yeah, just small bets. Yeah, just for the next 10 minutes. While waiting for lunch. While waiting for the bus. While waiting for dinner, which won’t be ready until the next 3 hours.

And we wonder why we carry our deck of cards with us all day long. Soon, to maintain the same level of pleasure, the stakes are raised.

From pleasure, to addiction. From addiction, to greed. From greed, to idolatry. If you can't tell where it leads, why start at all? Same applies to visiting casinos, buying lottery tickets, and playing with stocks unwisely. Morally wrong, principally incorrect.

However, there was this incident that blurred the lines a little.

My father shared this incident that happened to a Burmese man. His church has a ministry for foreign workers, and they have a group of Burmese there. They work as rough laborers in Malaysia. The church looks after them and gives them support in any practical way they can.

The foreign workers pay their agents thousands of Ringgit just to get into Malaysia. These men left their wives and children in Myanmar, and came to Malaysia to work, hoping to make a better living. With the little that they have, they send it back to their wives and children. Often, they have close to nothing left for food. They don’t have medical allowances when they fall sick. It would take them many years just to pay back their agents. What more to make a decent living in Malaysia.

One day, my father got a phonecall. “Saya kena loteri!” The Burmese guy said. He won RM10,000! He doesn’t have a Malaysian IC, so he needed someone to get the prize money on his behalf. He asked his boss to do it for him. But his boss wanted a commission of RM2,000. Having no one else to trust, he turned to my father.

So, my father went to the lottery shop, took out the money, and gave it to the Burmese guy and his friends. My father asked for nothing in return. But the Burmese insisted my father to accept an envelope of thanks from them. Inside it, RM500.

Almost immediately, the Burmese sent the money back to their families. After that, they had a really fun day. Just basic fun on food, drinks and small luxuries of life. And yeah, they were happy that day. Really happy.

Well, on one hand, my father told them it was not right to gamble. One can go on to present the whole set of arguments on why it is wrong to buy lottery tickets. Encouraged by this win, they may go on to buy lottery tickets from every lottery company, every day of the week. That’s not gonna be the right path to go by.

Morally wrong? Yes. Principally incorrect? Yes.

But as for the Burmese, somehow I felt happy for them. That day, somebody’s wife in a far away place had some money to live by. Some children could buy food to eat. Some family member could see a doctor and sleep well that night. That day, somebody who lived a lifetime of hardship tasted a short time of happiness.

In the light of compassion, sometimes certain rules can get blurred.