Down the primrose path: 30 years of the National Lottery

“like a puffed and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads” Hamlet

“30 years of changing lives”, boasts the National Lottery, three decades on from the day Noel Edmonds hosted the first ever draw. With “seven millionaires every week” and “£49BN for good causes”, it could almost be mistaken for a philanthropic organisation.

On 19 November 1994, the nation was transfixed, 22 million people tuned in to watch, many of them hoping to take home the £5.6 million jackpot. Seven players shared the winnings, more than £800,000 each. More than a million other players won an average of £20 each, but the vast majority went home with nothing.

So while over 30 years, the National Lottery has made a few punters into millionaires, millions more are poorer. It is not without justification that lotteries have long been described as a ‘tax on the poor‘. Is this really something to celebrate?

Abolitionists

Let’s rewind 200 years. Pre-Victorian Britain was about to usher in the abolition of slavery, and Christian social reformer William Wilberforce was celebrating with his friend Henry Thornton:

“Henry, What shall we abolish next?” The reply: “The national lottery, I think”.

The current incarnation has its roots much further back than 1994. Lotteries in England began in 1566, with the English State Lottery beginning in 1694. It was not abolished until 1826, more than 130 years later.

When our Parliament instituted the new National Lottery in 1994, Lord Alton, then an MP, reflected on that time, saying: “the national lottery was so full of corruption, abuses and the fear of syndicates, which has also been expressed today, that there was a national crusade to abolish it. I hope that there will not have to be a national crusade to undo what we are doing today.”

Many people, even some Christians, regard the lottery as harmless or even helpful because of the vast sums given to charities, sport and entertainment. But dig a little deeper and the picture is far from rosy. Underneath the glitter are stories of misery, controversial Lottery causes and a biblical principle that should make us think again.

Biblical principles

While the Bible does not explicitly condemn gambling, there are a host of reasons why mainstream Christian belief has always viewed gambling as incompatible with the Bible’s teaching.

One of the best known verses of the Bible is the ‘Golden Rule’ – “do to others what you would have them do to you”, as Jesus says in Matthew 7:12.

But gambling – including the Lottery – goes against this important principle. It directly depends on other people losing. By buying a lottery ticket or scratch card, you are betting on the hope the others lose out, but that you won’t.

Another relevant Bible verse is both well known, and oft-misquoted. While people regularly say “Money is the root of all evil”, the Bible actually says “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10).

Note that carefully. Money isn’t inherently bad. It’s a gift from God. But if we love it, seek after it to the detriment of other things, and build our lives on its promises, then it is “a root of all kinds of evil”.

The remainder of the verse tells readers that those who love money tend to “stray from the faith and pierce themselves through with many sorrows”.

The primrose path

So how do we see such sorrows playing out in modern life?

Well in 2003, a 16-year-old named Callie Rogers took home £1.8 million, but very quickly blew it on drugs and cosmetic surgeries. She was bombarded by “fake relationships” with people who wanted to help themselves to her instant wealth.

More than 20 years on, she admits she is much happier now the money is gone, and says the minimum age should be raised to 18.

In 2005, Keith and Louise Gough won £9 million. Like many others, Mr Gough saw the win as the “answer to his dreams”.

But dream turned to nightmare as two years later the couple separated after 27 years of marriage, and Keith gave up his job and took up drinking. Three years on, he had drunk himself to death.

The lottery preys on the poor – studies suggest that people on low incomes spend disproportionate amounts on the National Lottery.

a tax on the poor

Manual workers and the unemployed are significantly more likely to play National Lottery scratch cards than those in the top managerial, professional careers.

‘One of society’s biggest cancers’

Columnist Matthew Syed believes the National Lottery should be scrapped. He recently described its effect on British culture as “corrosive”, and warned that many people who take part can “ill afford” to do so.

He said: “If the state wants to raise money for good causes, it should do so via taxation, not by promoting gambling, one of society’s biggest cancers.”

The National Lottery may give a lot of money to charity, but on more than one occasion the so-called “good causes” are charities actively working to undermine God’s good plan for the world.

In 2000, it gifted £900,000 to Stonewall. In 2018, it gave half a million to another controversial pro-LGBT charity – Mermaids. When concerns were raised this time, it conducted a review but decided not to withdraw the funds. The Charity Commission recently completed its own review, and said Mermaids had been mismanaged, promoted inaccurate information on puberty-blocking drugs, and recruited a trustee who had previously delivered a paper normalising sexual activity with children.

Salt and light

Gambling is known to be addictive and harmful, fuelling crime, poverty and family breakdown. It has serious consequences for the individual involved, the individual’s family and society at large.

Our calling as Christians to act as salt and light demands that we act in a way that is consistent with God’s command that we love our neighbour. That’s why, over the years, the Institute has been actively involved in combatting the harms associated with gambling by seeking better laws to protect vulnerable people.

And as the world we live in increasingly looks to money for meaning – let us be all the more emboldened to hold forth Christ to our neighbours as the ultimate prize in a poor and needy world.