Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Technology and Religion
Gambling Apps Are Exploiting Addiction, and It’s a Sin

Gambling Apps Are Exploiting Addiction, and It’s a Sin

Last updated on: September 27, 2026 at 10:42 am by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

Gambling Apps Are Exploiting Addiction, and It’s a Sin 2026-09-27T10:42:18-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

gambling chips on a table

Let’s Talk About Gambling

I know that Catholicism is permissive about a lot of behaviors that other Christian denominations take a hard line on. We’re the ones who are rather famous for smoking, drinking, dancing, playing cards, and other things that would make my Methodist grandmother blush. Most of the time I’m fine with that. I don’t think any of those things are intrinsic evils. But we really need to talk about gambling.

Gambling is an addictive behavior, similar to doing drugs. Every time a person wins a little money in a bet, they get a rush of dopamine, and the brain can become accustomed to that rush. The suspense of not knowing what’s going to happen and then the excitement of an occasional win are, themselves, addictive, whether you win or lose. The brain isn’t seeking money, strictly speaking; it’s seeking the good feeling. The drug you get addicted to, so to speak, is not drunk from a glass or injected in your arm. It’s that chemical rush in your brain.

That’s the reason why people come back to gambling again and again even when they don’t often win– and, in case you didn’t know, people do not often win money when they gamble. A gambler might get an exciting win occasionally, but long-term, they’re much more likely to lose money than to win money. Casinos, race tracks and the like exist to make money for the house, not the gamblers, and that only works if gamblers don’t win very often. If gamblers could reliably win money from gambling, casinos would go out of business. But on a neurological level, gamblers aren’t gambling for the money. They’re gambling for the excitement. That’s how the business model works: casinos aren’t selling a chance to make money. They’re selling suspense and excitement that create a pleasant chemical reaction in the brain. And that reaction is expensive.

Some people can gamble occasionally for fun without getting addicted, but some can’t.

Gambling disorder isn’t a moral failing but a real mental illness, in the same category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as addictions to drugs and alcohol. In fact, gambling disorder is the only recognized addictive disorder that is behavioral rather than a substance abuse disorder: again, the “drug” isn’t something you’re ingesting, but the thrill of the behavior itself. Just as drug and alcohol addiction can make a person need higher and higher doses to get the same effect, gambling addicts can have the urge to bet more and more money to get the same thrill. Just as alcoholics can lose the ability to regulate their emotions in healthy ways and only calm down when they have a drink, some people with gambling addiction can’t regulate their emotions without gambling. Alcoholics might not be able to start the day without a drink of “the hair of the dog that bit them,” and gambling addicts can go through cycles of gambling again and again to “chase their losses.” Drug addicts often hide their addiction out of shame, and gambling addicts hide their behavior in the same way. People with gambling disorder not only ruin their own lives, but the lives of the people who love them as well, just as people with other addictions do. And yes, they can also experience gambling withdrawal.

And yes, gambling disorder can be lethal. In fact, gambling disorder has the highest suicide rate of any of the addictive disorders. About 80% of gambling addicts consider suicide, and about 20% do die from suicide.

Is gambling a sin? That’s complicated.

Gambling costs money. Money is a blessing that God entrusts to us to use wisely. The Catholic doctrine of the Universal Destination of Goods tells us that the reason we have resources like money, is to use them to help ourselves, our families, and our neighbors, instead of just to waste them. Gambling is definitely a form of waste. Betting a few dollars on a poker game with your friends now and then probably isn’t a sin. If you deliberately and without compulsion take a lot of money that your family needed for something else and gamble with it for fun, leaving them in poverty, that’s definitely a sin and a form of domestic violence. If once or twice in your life you decide to have a fun day gambling with money you don’t need and usually spend your money more wisely, including spending it to help the poor in your community, I couldn’t say whether that’s a sin or not in your case. If you’re rich and you habitually spend enormous amounts of money that could have been used to help your neighbor on a decadent gambling vacation in Las Vegas, that greed can definitely fall into the category of a sin.

If you are suffering from gambling disorder, a mental illness is not a sin. God would never hold your terrible suffering against you. God is suffering with you and wants you to get better. But as far as you’re able, you do need to get help so you can stop hurting yourself in this way. I know that’s not fair, and I know the society we live in makes mental health help very hard to get. But just as I need to control my obsessive-compulsive disorder so that I don’t hurt myself or others by constantly giving in to the intrusive thoughts, you need to take control of your disorder so you can stop hurting. Here are some people you can talk to.

Now, what about the people who feed gamblers’ addictions? What about the ones who run the casinos and the racetracks and the betting apps on your phone? Those people aren’t suffering from an addiction. They’re doing this on purpose, to make money. I don’t know enough about casinos to know if they usually “cut people off” the way a bartender is supposed to cut off a person who’s had too much to drink. They ought to. I think if they don’t, they are definitely committing a sin, because they’re encouraging and facilitating someone losing everything they have to earn a profit for themselves.

I do know that the new online gambling apps, and other apps that let you bet on things but don’t call themselves gambling apps like Kalshi, are extremely dangerous for people with gambling disorder, and for those who are susceptible to developing gambling disorder. Those apps claim they have safeguards in place, but I’m not convinced they work. Look at how DraftKings treated an investigative reporter who was mimicking the symptoms of gambling disorder. There are, effectively, no safeguards.

These apps can be accessed from your home at any time of the day or night. You don’t have to put on a suit and go to the casino or the race track. You can gamble on the toilet or in bed. And they send you push notifications, constantly nagging you to bet more money. Imagine what that does to an addict. Imagine being a recovering alcoholic whose phone has the ability to pour you a Scotch. Imagine being a recovering opioid addict whose phone keeps offering you a Percocet. Designing and marketing an app that could tempt a mentally ill person into hurting themselves that easily, for money, is despicable. It’s gravely wrong. If that’s not a mortal sin, I don’t know what is.

And right now, these apps are running truly horrible AI slop ads, enticing people into thinking that gambling might be a good way to get some extra money. When, in fact, gambling almost always does the opposite. That will entrap a whole new crop of addicts. It’s monstrous.

I’m not going to tell you you should never gamble, but I do hope you’re careful what you’re getting into.

The people responsible for exploiting addiction for money are no better than murderers, and they need to repent.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, donate to “The Little Portion” on paypal or Mary Pezzulo on venmo

Technology and Religion

Religion News

Previous Post

September 23, 2026

A Guinea Pig in Rivendell

Next Post

September 28, 2026 A World Where Children Can Be

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Apparently the magic trick all along was "allow his cultists to feel the pain." Biden's ..."

Mary

A Place Worth Fighting For

"To steal from Lincoln - Trump can screw some of the people all of the ..."

alwayspuzzled

A Place Worth Fighting For

"Good news, everyone! Things are beginning to finally change!"

Alex

America Doesn’t Have To Be The ..."

"I completely agree."

Mary

Americans are Equal, and Racism is ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month November 2026 October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was David's military commander and nephew?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Ittai Abishai Joab Benaiah