By CAL Staff
Christian Action League
February 25, 2022
Wednesday, a powerful Op-Ed piece calling for North Carolina lawmakers to resist the “easy money” from sports gambling appeared in the Raleigh News and Observer, the Durham Herald-Sun, and the Charlotte Observer. The article, titled N.C. Must Reject the ‘Easy Money’ Sports Betting Would Bring was published in the North Carolina Voices section of these three major daily newspapers in the Tar Heel state.
The opinion piece was a collaboration between the executive director of the Christian Action League, Rev. Mark Creech, and John Rustin, president of the North Carolina Family Policy Council.
Rev. Creech said, “Originally, I wrote it and shared it with my good friend and colleague, John Rustin. I told John that I intended to submit it to the papers. Rustin asked if he could sign-on. I was delighted at his suggestion. So then, we reworked it together as something from both organizations. The piece, I suggest, represents the way a considerably large segment of North Carolinians feels about this issue. Not just thousands of conservative evangelicals such as myself, but thousands on the liberal or progressive side, too.”
“The NC Family Policy Council was pleased to join the Christian Action League in submitting this very important Op-Ed in opposition to the expansion of predatory gambling in North Carolina. We are privileged to serve alongside Rev. Mark Creech, as both of our organizations seek to present God’s Truth to our elected officials and the public. We fervently pray that these joint efforts will honor the Lord, inform our political leaders, and benefit the citizens of our great state,” said Rustin.
Below is the full article:
We don’t understand the human spirit that says we should surrender in the face of something evil. Sports betting is inevitable, some say. There’s too much money involved. We can’t stop it, so we should just regulate it and get something out of it.
That’s the way some North Carolina leaders are approaching the prospect of legalizing sports gambling. They know thousands of people will be hurt and families will be destroyed, but they seemingly have lost any manner of courage and given in without a fight.
Decades of research shows that legalizing sports betting in North Carolina will, over time, seriously increase adverse outcomes such as divorce, bankruptcy, child abuse, domestic violence, drug addiction, crime and suicide. The gambling industry’s business model is built upon exploitation of the financially desperate and addicted.
Would these same leaders so easily acquiesce to legalizing sports gambling if they knew that they, or someone they love, would be the victim of a crime because of it? Or, if one of their family members would suffer a gambling-related suicide? After all, the victims of gambling addiction are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, sons and daughters.
How can one be so callous? The problem is a lack of love — true love for one’s neighbor. Gambling is predicated on the losses, pain, and suffering of one’s neighbor. Commercialized it is also a form of covetousness, a violation of the Tenth Commandment.
It’s not that the state of North Carolina is desperate for more gambling dollars — the lottery has already proven to be a shell game. It’s that too many state leaders want government in on the action, regardless of whether the negative consequences for the citizenry will far outweigh any revenue garnered.
No, a law that prohibits something will never stop it altogether. But if the objective is to curb a destructive behavior and its ill effects — which is all any law can do — then the law can be an effective tool in the prevention of harm. To legalize evil is only to normalize and encourage it.
Our state’s leaders and N.C. citizens should reject the seduction of “easy money” and stand courageously against the legalization of predatory sports gambling.
SB 688 – Sports Wagering has already passed the State Senate and now resides in the N.C. House. It will likely be taken up for consideration by the House in the Spring.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with your Representative in the North Carolina House and urge him/her now to oppose this legislation.
If you do not know who represents you in the N.C. House, go to the link below and follow the prompts. It won’t take but a few minutes of your time and could save thousands of lives from the adverse outcomes of Predatory Gambling.