Presbyterian Panel Summary

Gambling and the Christian Faith
The February 2000 Survey

• Almost all panelists live in a state with one or more forms of legal gambling. The most common types found are state lotteries (reported by 82% of members) and scratch-off tickets (74%). Majorities of members also report that their states offer horse-racing tracks (63%) or bingo parlors (61%).

• Around four in ten panelists (e.g., 43% of elders) report living in a state with casinos or riverboat gambling.

• Around one-half of panelists live near a casino on Native American lands.

Participation

• Around two in three members (64%) and elders (65%) and almost one-half of pastors (44%) and specialized clergy (49%) report participating in one or more forms of legal gambling in the year prior to the survey. The most popular activities:
  • buying a raffle ticket (48% of elders and 32% of pastors did so)
  • buying a ticket for a state lottery drawing (elders, 34%; pastors, 13%)
  • buying a state lottery scratch-off ticket (elders, 24%; pastors, 10%)
  • making a friendly wager (elders, 18%; pastors, 14%)
  • gambling at a casino (elders, 14%; pastors, 7%)
  • participating in an office pool (elders, 16%; pastors, 5%)

• Only small percentages of panelists report:
  • gambling over the Internet (1% or fewer)
  • placing a bet on a college or professional sporting event (3% or fewer)
  • betting on a horse or dog race (4% or fewer)
  • participating in riverboat gambling (4% or fewer)
  • playing bingo for money (6% or fewer)
  • playing a video poker machine (6% or fewer)

• Around one in twenty members and elders and around one in forty clergy report taking a vacation primarily for gambling, typically to somewhere in the U.S. (e.g., Las Vegas, Atlantic City).

• Majorities in every Panel group think of the following activities as "gambling":
  • buying a state lottery ticket (elders, 92%; pastors, 97%)
  • playing poker with friends for money (elders, 75%; pastors, 77%)
  • church-sponsored bingo (elders, 61%; pastors, 70%)
  • wagering a few dollars with a friend on the outcome of a golf match (elders, 61%; pastors, 66%)
  • participation in "office pools" (elders, 60%; pastors, 68%)
  • "friendly wagers" on future events (sports, election) (elders, 57%; pastors, 62%)

• Only minorities think these activities qualify as gambling:
  • raffles for charity (elders, 34%; pastors, 46%)
  • investing in the stock market (elders, 25%; pastors, 19%)
  • cakewalks and other games at school or church fund raisers (elders, 21%; pastors, 26%)

Approval and Disapproval

• In every Panel group, many more panelists disapprove than approve of legal gambling. The percentage who disapprove of gambling is noticeably larger among pastors (78%) and specialized clergy (72%), than among members (48%) and elders (53%).

• Major reasons why panelists approve of gambling include its value as entertainment and its value as a source of government revenue. Majorities of members (55%) and elders (53%), and large minorities of pastors (41%) and specialized clergy (48%), agree that "gambling can be a form of entertainment that, if done in moderation, is no better and no worse than other activities . . . ."

• Major reasons why panelists disapprove include the belief that it is addictive and the belief that it causes problems for families and less affluent individuals.

• Majorities in all groups favor banning or reducing gambling, although in each group more respond reduce legal gambling than respond ban gambling altogether (see Figure 2).

Problem Gambling

• Few panelists -- 6% of members, pastors, and other clergy, and 4% of elders -- report that gambling has been "a source of economic, marital, psychological, or other problems within your family."

• A third of members and elders know someone personally for whom gambling has been a problem.

• A majority of pastors 60% report that gambling has been source of problems for one or more members in their congregation.

• Panelists divide along lay-clergy lines on the morality of gambling. While more members and elders disagree than agree that "all gambling is immoral," the reverse is true among the clergy. For members, 51% disagree and 35% agree that "all gambling is immoral"; among pastors, 52% agree and 36% disagree.

• Majorities of between 63% (members) and 86% (pastors) agree that "lotteries mislead people to believe they can get something for nothing."

• In all samples except pastors, opinion is evenly divided on whether or not "legalized gambling does serious harm to people's respect for the value of hard work." Among pastors, 63% agree, while 29% disagree.

• By large majorities in every sample, more panelists view the effects of legal gambling as bad than view the effects as good for society. Nonetheless, sizeable minorities in each sample think the effects are about equally good and bad. (See Figure 3.)

• That evaluation notwithstanding, majorities of members (53%) and elders (54%) and large minorities of pastors (45%) and other clergy (49%) agree that "when casinos open in a community . . . it helps . . . the local economy."

• Negative effects are more likely to be perceived in "everyday family and community life" (majorities ranging from 59% to 68% believe legal gambling hurts this area) and in "the moral climate of the community" (63% to 76%).

• 55% of members and 80% of pastors agree that "legalized gambling is creating a compulsive gambling problem in this country."

• Majorities of clergy and half of members and elders believe "legalized gambling often results in increases in crime."

• Few (26% of members, 18% of pastors) agree that "by legalizing gambling, states limit the involvement of organized crime in the gambling industry."

• A third of lay panelists and four in ten clergy believe "the legal gambling industry is creating serious corruption in government."

• Large majorities in every sample disagree that "keeping gambling legal is necessary to preserve American freedom."

Gambling as a Source of State Revenues

• Few panelists in any sample (ranging from 19% of members to 5% of pastors) agree that "gambling is a legitimate and appropriate means for government to use to solve budget needs . . . ." A few more panelists (members, 31%; pastors, 11%) support state-sponsored gambling if the purpose is to raise funds "for worthy causes such as education and scholarships."

• Majorities of elders, pastors, and specialized clergy disapprove or strongly disapprove of states raising revenue from any of ten possible types of legal gambling. Members concur, with several exceptions: only 44% of members disapprove of "bingo for cash prizes" and "lotteries for cash prizes" as a source of state revenue, and 47% of members disapprove of "scratch-off tickets for cash prizes."

• The forms of legal gambling that the largest percentages of member panelists approve of as a source for state revenue are:
  • lotteries for cash prizes (47% approve or strongly approve)
  • bingo for cash prizes (45%)
  • scratch-off tickets for cash prizes (44%)
  • betting on horse races at the track (37%)
  • casino or riverboat gambling (25%)

• Member panelists show little support for raising state revenues via betting on jai alai (12% of members approve), video poker machines (13%), betting on professional sports (13%), off-track betting on horse races (14%), or betting on dog races (19%). Rates of approval among pastors are around one-half as large.

• Half of members and elders, two-thirds of specialized clergy, and eight in ten pastors agree that "legalized gambling undermines the principles of responsible Christian stewardship."

• Similar percentages also agree that "the spirit of legalized gambling is in direct opposition to the Spirit of Jesus Christ."

The Congregation

• Majorities of pastors (61%) and specialized clergy (63%) believe that "sessions should act to oppose legalized gambling in their communities." Most of the rest respond uncertain. Among elders, 47% support the appropriateness of session action on local gambling issues, 23% oppose such action, and 31% are uncertain.

• Few sessions have taken actions "to oppose, reduce, or ban gambling" locally over the last five years 9% of elders report that their sessions have done so, as do 16% of pastors. Among this subset of congregations, the most common action has been "to oppose additional legal gambling."

• Few congregations have ministries "to help individuals and families affected by compulsive gambling." Only 2% of members and elders, and 5% of pastors, report such ministries.

• Two-thirds of members and elders and more than nine in ten pastors and other clergy (92%) believe it is appropriate for "the General Assembly to take a stand on legalized gambling."

• Two in three clergy but less than one third of members (26%) and elders (29%) are aware that "the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has repeatedly expressed opposition to all forms of gambling."

• Large majorities of panelists in all samples (members, 97%; pastors, 69%) report a lack of familiarity with the 1998 PC(USA) resource Gambling and Christian Faith, and even fewer have heard of or seen the March/April 1999 issue of Church & Society magazine on the same topic.

This survey was initially mailed in February 2000, and returns were accepted through April 2000. Results are subject to sampling and other errors. Small differences should be interpreted cautiously. As a general rule, differences of less than 8% between samples are not statistically meaningful.

For more numbers and interpretation of the February 2000 Presbyterian Panel results, a longer report with additional charts and graphs is available for $5. Contact PDS at (800) 524-2612 and order PDS #65100-00264. Included is a data appendix that presents the percentage responses to each survey question separately for members, elders, pastors, and specialized clergy.

For more information on policy regarding gambling in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) contact Peter Sulyok of the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy at (888) 728-7228 ext. 5814.

The Panel is administered by the Office of Research Services of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Reach the Panel Administrator at: Jack Marcum