ERLC Summit Urged Church Leaders to Address the Spiritual Crisis of Sports Gambling
In a recent summit hosted by the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), pastors discussed the rise of sports betting and its impact on society. The event, held on Monday at Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Texas, sought to provide biblical wisdom on confronting the issue in congregations and families.
RaShan Frost, pastor of Centerpoint Church in South Carolina and director of research at ERLC, noted how gambling is a sin against God as it undermines His provision.
"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."
As reported by The Christian Post, there has been an increase in sports betting following a 2018 Supreme Court decision legalizing sports gambling and the rise of digital wagering sites.
At the present time, sports gambling is legal in some form in over 30 states, including Washington, D.C.
"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.
In addition to financial distress, Frost said that gambling can result in threats of physical harm to athletes whom gamblers consider 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.
According to a 2024 Lifeway survey, less than 3% of pastors say they have a strategy to help their congregations combat the trend of gambling.
"That's when it really hit home for me," Matt Henslee, lead pastor of Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving, Texas, said after sharing his experience of learning how his youth group normalized sports betting.
"I didn't want what was coming with it," he said.
During the summit, pastors linked gambling to the love of money in 1 Timothy 6:10 and Hebrews 13:5. Conversely, they cited verses such as 2 Thessalonians 3:10 and Proverbs 14:23 as examples of Christians being encouraged to exercise responsible stewardship and work to earn a living.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/South_agency
Originally published April 09, 2025.
