With the Super Bowl this weekend, don’t expect many pastors to position a bet on Kansas City or San Francisco to win the sport, but a couple of can have greater than a rooting interest riding on the sport.
Despite its legalization across many states, US Protestant pastors remain against sports gambling, but they’re not doing much about it, in response to a Lifeway Research study. Few pastors (13%) favor legalizing sports betting nationwide and most (55%) say the practice is morally unsuitable.
“Anything can occur in sports, and lots of Americans want the identical allure of an unexpected win in sports to translate into an unexpected financial windfall,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “Most pastors see moral hazards in sports betting and consider American society could be higher off without it.”
Pastoral opposition
A majority of pastors (55%) consider betting on sports is morally unsuitable, including 33% who strongly agree. Around a 3rd (35%) disagree, while 10% aren’t sure.
“While the Bible doesn’t explicitly say, ‘Thou shall not gamble,’ biblical principles regarding work and wealth indicate that gambling is unwise,” said Miles Mullin, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission vice chairman and chief of staff. “The Bible teaches that sin has a ripple effect that harms not only the participant but those around him. This seems particularly true for addictive behaviors, and gambling isn’t any different.”
Evangelical pastors (62%) are more likely than mainline pastors (50%) to see sports gambling as morally unsuitable. Baptist (65%) and non-denominational pastors (63%) are more likely than those at Lutheran (42%) or Presbyterian/Reformed churches (46%) to agree it’s unsuitable.
While there’s some difference of opinion over the morality of sports betting, just about all pastors agree on what the legal status ought to be. Few (13%) agree sports betting ought to be legalized across the country, including 2% who strongly agree. Three in 4 pastors (75%) oppose nationwide legalization, and 13% aren’t sure.
Younger pastors, those aged 18–44, are the most definitely to support making sports betting legal across the U.S. (20%) and the least more likely to oppose those efforts (64%). White pastors (76%) usually tend to oppose legalization than Black pastors (63%). Pastors within the South (78%) and Midwest (75%) are also more more likely to disagree with legalizing sports gambling nationwide than those within the West (64%).
Again, evangelical pastors usually tend to oppose gambling than their mainline counterparts, with 80% of evangelical pastors in comparison with 64% of mainline pastors opposing legalization across the country. Pentecostals (85%) and Baptists (83%) usually tend to disagree with legalizing sports betting than Methodist (72%), Presbyterian/Reformed (71%), Lutheran (66%) and nondenominational pastors (66%).
The overall numbers are much like a 2018 Lifeway Research study of US Protestant pastors conducted shortly after a Supreme Court ruling opened the door for an expansion of sports gambling across the country. In late summer 2018, 59% of pastors felt sports betting was morally unsuitable, and 12% thought it ought to be legal nationwide.
Pastoral apathy
Currently, some type of sports gambling is legal in greater than 30 states and Washington, DC. But few pastors see it as a difficulty for them or their churches to deal with. This demonstrates a shift from their stated intentions in 2018, a couple of months after sports betting became a legal possibility across the country.
In 2018, pastors were asked, “If sports betting is legal or soon becomes legal in your state, which of the next will your church do?” Almost 9 in 10 (88%) said they’d offer counseling for those scuffling with addiction and debt. Two in three (65%) said they’d have private conversations to discourage participation, and 60% would offer support groups for gambling addictions. Another 42% said they’d advocate for stricter laws on sports betting. And 33% planned to make use of sermons to discourage participation. A bit greater than five years ago, 5% of US Protestant pastors said they wouldn’t feel the necessity for his or her church to deal with the problem.
Today, few of those stated ambitions have been realized, and most pastors say they don’t feel like they should do anything about sports betting. Within the last yr, 44% of pastors say they’ve offered counseling for those scuffling with debt or addiction and 32% have used private conversations to discourage participation in sports betting. Few say they’ve offered support groups for gambling addiction (11%), advocated for stricter laws on sports betting (8%) or used sermons to discourage participation (7%). Most pastors (56%) now say they haven’t felt the necessity for his or her church to deal with the problem within the last yr.
Asked directly about their very own participation, 2% of US Protestant pastors say they’ve placed a number of bets on sporting events within the last yr.
“Pastors are still not supportive of sports betting, but their plan for responding has modified within the last six years,” said McConnell. “Pastors’ 2018 intentions were to fight to maintain our culture from hurting itself by lowering a regular. Now that almost all states have legalized sports betting, pastors appear less fascinated about specializing in this behavior. Many will likely follow through on their intentions if a particular need arises, but the fact is that intentions are easier than actions.”
Baptist and Methodist pastors are sometimes those most definitely to be involved with the problem. Baptists are among the many most definitely to say they’ve used sermons (13%) and personal conversations (39%) to discourage participation. Methodists are among the many most definitely to have offered support groups for gambling addiction (16%). Both Methodists (14%) and Baptists (12%) are among the many most definitely to say they’ve advocated for stricter laws on sports betting previously yr and to say they’ve offered counseling for those scuffling with debt or addiction (Methodists 48%, Baptists 46%).
Pastors 65 and older (49%) are less likely than those 18 to 44 (61%) and 55 to 64 (59%) to say they haven’t felt the necessity to deal with sports betting. Lutherans (71%) and Presbyterian/Reformed (67%) are more likely than Methodists (53%), Baptists (47%) and Pentecostals (42%) to consider it’s not mandatory to become involved.
