Someone else's standards is exactly the point here and when talking about whether or not gambling is wrong everyone has a standard and opinion on just what
is too much or if it's even wrong at all.
People against gambling due to religious beliefs are taking what is written and applying it to everything gambling, big or small....often or not....win or lose.
They applied what they've read to mean NO GAMBLING whatsoever...and that all forms are wrong. The GAMBLING itself is not wrong. Excess to a point where
you are harming yourself or anyone else is WRONG.
Is spending a dollar on a number instead of buying a bag of chips because your hungry wrong? Depends....do you really need the chips? Are you really that hungry?
If you're not starving and it's a binge buy anyway...where's the harm in spending the dollar instead on a chance to win some more money? If you lose, you lose
your dollar and you're out the chips too. Unless you haven't eaten in a week, you don't need the greasy, fattening chips either. So, no loss and no harm to anyone.
Maybe just the craving center of your brain...but, you'll get over that and be better for it anyway.
Now if you spend $100 and don't have food for you/your family that week....THAT is harmful to you and your family. Or if you spend the utility money and
do not have heat or lights, THAT is doing harm to others and yourself too because you have to live with the lousy decisions you made to overdo it...and extend
the misery in the cold and dark yet too.
EXCESS in gambling (or ANYTHING for that matter) to a degree where you are hurting others, denying others basic needs, depriving yourself of needs and
making others lives miserable is where the harm and sin lie. It's not gambling itself because done within reason and moderation, it should be doing no harm to
anyone.