The Narrow Path Ministries

Hi guys,

Blackjack is the only casino game where the player has a slight edge over the casino house and one of the few card games in which the player uses his memory and math skills.

This is a risky game just like stock market. There is a new movie coming out and it called 21.

What do you think about this game. Is it a sin to play this game involving money. What if the person has the skill in this particular game.

In Canada you have to take a special course in order to become a card dealer. You need to be a certified card dealer in order to work in casino.

I believe it is a sin to engage in all kinds of gambling therefore I will not be a part of it.

I once heard someone say (who was trying to justify gambling) "Farming is a gamble. In buying seeds and equipment, you are betting that your crops will be a success against the possibility that they will be wiped out by hail or other bad weather.

The pastor's wife of a church I attended when I was 20 said, "Gambling is stealing from other people with their permission." It was then I realized that the farmer, though making a risky investment is not gambling. For he is not stealing from others with or without their permission. If the farmer "wins", no one else loses.

Personally, gambling has never appealed to me. My mom, who is in her 70's, will occasionally take a little bit of her "mad money" ($20 or $30) that she sets aside for fun, and go to the casinos in nearby Blackhawk, Colorado. She has a fun day in a nice place, a buffet meal for a cheap price, and when her $20 or $30 is gone, she's done. Sometimes she comes home with more money than she started with, but that's not why she goes. She looks at it as $20 or $30 is a fair price for a day's worth of entertainment.

It is not quite as rosey as you have presented.

The highly skilled, disciplined player may have a slight edge. I have not done a mathematical analysis so I am not willing to endorse this as a fact. The casino will sell you a card indicating your best play for every situation. Even doing this they still win (otherwise I can't imagin that they would alow you to use the card).

Most people are neither skilled nor disciplined. They are easy pickings for the casino.

If you are one of the rare ones who can actually beat the casino, they simply refuse to play with you.

Thanks to all replies.