FORT WORTH, Texas — If sports betting isn’t a problem in your church yet, chances are it will be soon enough.

That’s the warning call behind a Texas pastoral summit on sports gambling hosted Monday by the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) at the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (named after Dr. Richard Land, who also serves as the executive editor of The Christian Post), where pastors exchanged new insights on the rise of sports betting, along with biblical wisdom on how church leaders can confront the issue in their congregations and families.

The summit, held at Travis Avenue Baptist Church, explored the implications of sports betting at every level — personal, institutional and societal — and how Christians can be better equipped to respond to the rise of instant access to all kinds of gambling on our phones and other devices.

Rashawn Frost, pastor of Centerpoint Church in South Carolina and director of research at ERLC, offered a biblical and theological framework to oppose gambling, emphasizing stewardship, virtue and human dignity. According to Frost, gambling is a sin that fosters covetousness, undermines God's provision, and harms relationships and society. 

"The essential idea against gambling is that it thrives under the conditions of human covetousness, denying God as a provider and failing to be content in His provision,” he said. “Gambling negatively impacts the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of every level of human relationships, and the statistics bear that out on multiple levels."

Since a 2018 Supreme Court decision legalizing sports gambling and the rise of digital wagering sites, sports betting is everywhere, from ads on TV and social media to sponsorships with pro sports leagues.  Currently, sports gambling is legal in some form in more than 30 states and Washington, D.C.

Frost said nowadays, gambling companies sponsor games, sports content and are aggressively pursuing and creating more gamblers.

"Since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting, we’ve become just inundated with ads for all these opportunities to gamble money, and it’s becoming a real problem, particularly among young men who now have smartphones and their dad’s credit card and can really get into a lot of trouble,” he said. 

Not only can sports betting cause financial distress, Frost said it can often end in threats of physical harm to athletes whom gamblers might perceive to be responsible for their losses.

"Gambling reduces the athlete to being a moneymaker for the fan, and their value is determined based on their performance or the lack of thereof,” he said, noting he’s heard of “18- to 22-year-olds receiving death threats" due to performances that some bettors believe cost them money. 

While over half of pastors say they’re opposed to sports betting, according to a 2024 Lifeway survey, only a small minority — less than 3% — actually have a strategy to combat the trend in their own congregations.

Matt Henslee, lead pastor of Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, shared how he only became aware of the problem after learning many of those in his church’s youth group had “normalized” sports betting in a way that made the practice seem relatively benign.

“That’s when it really hit home for me,” said Henslee, who recently led his congregation in an effort to stop plans for a casino in his home city of Irving. For him, it wasn’t merely the gambling, but all the other things that come with a casino, like prostitution, sex trafficking and homelessness.

“I didn’t want what was coming with it,” he said.

Pastors at the summit noted that while the Bible doesn’t explicitly condemn gambling and other forms of betting like the lottery, it does warn against the love of money in 1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5. Verses such as 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and Proverbs 14:23, meanwhile, call for followers of Christ to exercise responsible stewardship and work to earn a living. 

And while there might not be a consensus among pastors about whether the Bible explicitly condemns sports betting — or even popular pastimes like fantasy football — as sinful, there’s even less clarity about how churches can confront the challenges of online gambling, which is projected to become a $153 billion industry by 2030.

Ben Bowland, senior pastor at Travis Avenue Baptist Church, said he’s found that small groups, which tend to meet on a regular basis, are an effective way to address the topic as “they’re seeking to create this to be a habit for life” and can help those struggling with gambling.

As for how to effectively disciple young men under 35 — the primary demographic for sports betting advertising — Bowland says he’s still searching for answers. “I think that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out,” he said.

Greg Davis, president and CEO of The Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) and a former SBC pastor, encouraged pastors to become more involved in the legislative process at their state, county and local levels.

Blaming a combination of factors from gambling industry corruption to legislative gridlock — or what he termed “greedlock” — Davis said pastors must make their voices heard to push back against a massive lobby like the casino industry. One of the ways they can do that, said Davis, is to clearly outline for lawmakers the connections between biblical principles and political responsibilities. 

“Gambling is a lie; it’s a con job,” he said. “Legislators don't see what pastors see.”

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/erlc-summit-offers-insight-on-tackling-rise-of-sports-betting.html