According to studies by the World Health Organization, 2-3% of those involved in gambling suffer from gambling addiction. The Government of the Republic of Armenia is trying to combat this through various legislative initiatives. What sin do gamblers commit? We discussed this topic with Father Paren Arakelyan, the spiritual servant of the Saghmosavank Monastic Complex, as part of Iravaban.net’s “Church and Law” series. The interview was conducted at the Holy Mother of God Church in Karbi.

-Can we say that a gambler simultaneously commits two deadly sins: greed and sloth?

-We can say that gambling is a sin and also that gambling is a consequence of sloth and greed, but that wouldn’t be a complete answer. If you study a bit about gambling and gamblers, you’ll see that it’s not entirely a consequence of sloth and greed. Now, is there any statistics on what professionals engage in gambling? I think it’s such a closed area that we can’t talk about statistics. Or, if we look at history, gambling is not a new phenomenon. Gambling existed in Ancient India. Writings mention that people punish their prince for losing everything. Was he lazy, greedy? I can’t say. Or, if we follow psychologists’ views, they say that firstly, the gambler has difficulty integrating into society, the gambler has a problem with himself, it’s a psychological issue. And from a spiritual perspective, yes, gambling is a sin, because our Lord Jesus Christ said, “Always be in prayer.” When we engage in gambling, we commit one of the greatest murders – we kill our time. We do this at the expense of our family, our spiritual life.

-Can a person living a Christian life be a gambler?

-When we say ‘person’, we already imagine that they should live a Christian life. If a person lives a Christian life, they will exclude gambling or any addiction from their life, because if they are Christian, then they have heard the word of our Lord Jesus Christ – always pray. Our fathers would say, let your whole life turn into prayer. And if a person is Christian and their whole life is a prayer, no addictions can enter there.

-If a person is interested in gambling from time to time, visits a casino, is that also a sin?

-Sin doesn’t happen once or ten times, sin isn’t small or big, sin is sin. Honestly, I don’t believe that a person can enter that world once and find enough strength in themselves to get out of there. You also used the word ‘azart’ (excitement), which means emotion, and if a person gives in to emotion, it means the person has no self-control. And if a person can’t control themselves, it means that at least at that moment they have lost the likeness and image of God. I think that yes, it’s a sin, even if done once.

-In Armenia, as such, there are no statistics on gamblers, but considering the various legislative initiatives implemented by the state, it becomes clear that the situation is concerning. What role does the church have in reducing the number of gamblers?

-The church is already doing what it should do. We all know that the situation is concerning. A gambler is not only the person who visits a casino. Gamblers can be carried away by this sin sitting at home, without supervision. And what does the church do and what should it do? The church has created a field where there is no sin. The church, at least every Sunday, gathers believers in one place. At least for those two hours, there is no sin. The church thinks not about eliminating the consequences, but about eliminating the causes. The church also acts individually. You need to understand why a person is drawn to any addiction, what is hurting them, what are they running from, try to solve their problem, try to understand their pain and uproot the sin. It’s very difficult. The church has various groups, Sunday schools organized for children, groups organized for teenagers, youth unions, and we clergy create a field where there is no trace of any sin, where people who are prone to any addiction find a substitute or something more valuable. When a person finds something more valuable, they cannot be a gambler. The church creates a field where the one who enters is purified.

For more details, please refer to the video. 

Hasmik Sargsyan