I am opposed to the effort to put a new casino into Steuben County, Indiana and I hope the effort fails. What my hometown needs is not another place devoted to vice, but employers who will add value to northeast Indiana. I have been in Monroe County for 33 years, but the first 19 years of my life were in Steuben. I do not think this is what is needed for Angola, Fremont, Hamilton, Hudson and Orland.
We do need to be a little careful with too many doom-and-gloom predictions. The action in gambling is not casinos. It is online, especially with sports betting. Young men who aren't married are going into debt because of an obsession with sports betting on their smartphones. You don't need to go to a casino. You do not even need to leave your couch. You can throw away thousands of dollars before you even get out of bed in the morning. Online gambling is a real problem and every church should be addressing this with young men. College ministries like Campus Crusade for Christ are in a unique position to address this problem through discipleship and doctrinal teaching.
That said, this is a bad deal. Let's be clear: Casinos are designed to extract money from people, with the "wins" few and far between compared to what the casino rakes in. There's a good reason that the phrase "the house always wins" is common. Even a skill-based game like Blackjack is rigged in that casinos will kick you out if they figure out you are "counting cards."
Christendom has traditionally opposed gambling. There are a lot of churches in Steuben County, so I am praying the pastors speak to their congregations and urge a "no" vote. Don't fear losing your 501(c)3 status for taking a position. Yes, the developers will try to punish you as the idol makers tried to punish the early church in the book of Acts. Do it anyway, remembering that we should fear and obey God rather than men. Please step up and urge your congregations to defeat this.
Just say "no" to a casino in Steuben County
This is not what the people of Angola, Fremont, Hamilton, Hudson and Orland need right now.
