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When some people ask questions about gambling, such as "Can someone can make a living through gambling? I don't like to engage in such conversations because those who doubt that gambling can change someone's life are usually those who have gambled and failed multiple times or those who don't really know gambling strategies.

Recently, a Uganda pastor who won 100million shillings decided to shut down his ministry. This left me with several questions in my head, such as ' Do religious leaders gamble? Is it right for religious leaders to gamble? Knowing fully well that most of them preach against gambling in their religious places. What is the ethical and moral implications of gambling, particularly in the context of religious practices and beliefs?

News source:
https://www.reubenabati.com.ng/news/pastor-shuts-down-church-after-winning-n100m-sports-bet

Nothing can stop a person's desire to gamble even if he is a religious figure. You also don't need to be surprised, in today's era many make religion the cover for their badness. No exception for any religion. so, in my opinion, in answer to your question:

Do religious leaders gamble?
Of course, this could happen. Not just in Uganda but in any country will have one or two doing the same things.

Is it right for religious leaders to gamble?
Gambling in any religion seems to be judged by wrong actions, so if there is a leader who gambles, of course this is wrong. But if he shilling to people to join him to gamble its not acceptable.

What are the ethical and moral implications of gambling, particularly in the context of religious practices and beliefs?
If a religious figure gambles, of course it will be considered immoral and unethical. This is no longer just about faith, but because of the individual will of that person. Maybe in some religions, a religious figure who gambles is considered not to have good faith. But, if it comes to closing churches, or other places of worship, this is beyond common sense.

Deciding whether gambling is right or wrong for them is subjective. For non-believer to their religion will find this news as normal event because the Pastor is living on Uganda which we all know that is very hard to earn money but this is different if you are the one with same religion with them because Pastors are role model for holiness in their religion.

I will never blame the Pastor on doing gambling to earn more for his own future. Probably his earnings through his ministry is not sufficient for his daily needs especially if he has a family to feed.

Let's focus on the story you provided, the pastor became one because he just want cash cows and he is not genuine on his mission he is what we might call a false prophet or wolf in a sheep's cloth, so when he won he does not need the church and he can enjoy life, the lesson here is to check your Pastor's motivation is becoming a servant of the Church his vocation, because if he is not, he will leave his congregation, when he has something to focus.


Regarding your question, it's not ethical for a pastor to gamble because he must set a good example to his congregation he is committing a big sin by gambling.

Anyone can gamble anywhere, be it a religious leader, even though that doesn't mean he can't do it, usually religion requires full trust. Maybe a religious leader does that because he doesn't have full faith in religion, so he prefers other ways to make money by playing gambling. If asked whether someone can earn a living in gambling, I would say no because it is possible that the victory he gets is just luck and will not be repeated afterwards.  ;)

They should not gamble because according to the scripture, they cannot serve two masters you will hate the other and love the other, and you cannot preach about love and virtue if you are the first to break what you preach, based on the story he is just deceiving the members of his church he assume the role of their pastor because of the donations.
There are so many of these in our midst and this is because of the love of money and greed and lust for power because they cast influence on their members.

It depends to the lessons that religion is teaching. There have been thousands of religions in the world and we don't know if on that actual religion that you've mentioned if the teachings there is if gambling is allowed or not.

But since the pastor have gambled and won such amount, only two things from that result. It's either he's really teaching that gambling isn't allowed and he violated it or it's the opposite.

Regardless to say, a true pastor won't leave his flocks and will attend to their needs for the words that his teachings. But just as the other teachings in the bible says, there are too many false prophets and teachers.

I agree with this, it will all depends in their own personal interest and perspective. Some people thinks that gambling is a sin, they just don't want other people to be addicted to it that's why sometimes they even hurt us with wrong words so we are tend to be hurt. Don't mind those people who judge us, as long we know our limits and sometimes it gives us money more money than our jobs we just only need to be disciplined enough and have some self control.

Not every religious leaders gamble, because there are those who preach against this practice and are coherent with their speeches, and that is fine. The problem is when the religious leader preaches against gambling in public, but adopt this activity for his life in secret, on his private life.

I say this is a problem not because gambling should be considered wrong or immoral, but because this person is an hypocritical and manipulative one, therefore he shouldn't be trusted and followed by anyone who seek the truth, honesty and balance in life.

A religious leader who acts like this must be acting against the words he preaches in other aspects of his life as well, so be careful.

No one can make a living from gambling. I don't think that's the point of gambling, either. People can make a living with working. Gambling should be just a passion for us. It must be a tool that helps us release happiness hormones like dopamine. I don't think we should attach any more meaning to it. Also, I think religious leaders can gamble too. Everyone should be judged for their own good and evil. If a religious leader does something bad according to his faith, it should only be binding on him. I don't find it odd for a religious leader to gamble.

I often see cases of priests who fall into the world of gambling, the case that happened to David Ochieng, a Ugandan pastor, is not a strange news about a priest who involved himself in the practice of gambling.

Some examples of cases I've seen.
Boston Looks Into Alleged Bribes By Priests on Church Gambling. (https://www.nytimes.com/1973/11/22/archives/boston-looks-into-alleged-bribes-by-priests-on-church-gambling.html) and Gambling pastor imprisoned for begging fraud (https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/gambling-pastor-imprisoned-for-begging-fraud/47707214)

As published by the police and prosecutors.

In several cases of priests involved in gambling, it can be concluded that, human priests, are not free from mistakes, gambling does not look at certain religious leaders, if there is intention, opportunity, they will do it. money temptation is greater, than any other.

For me it is not ethical if religious leaders play gambling because basically they rely on their religious scriptures and if I'm not mistaken I have never heard of any religion allowing gambling, of course that is moral damage in itself because they convey what is permissible and what is not permissible. do it in religion so that religious leaders become role models for their adherents, of course it is not an ethical thing for religious leaders to play gambling.


Indeed, basically no one blames anyone for playing gambling, but maybe for everyone who looks at the morals of the behavior of religious leaders it is not an ethical thing, but maybe my perspective is like that because of the teachings that I received so that when talking about religious leaders gambling sound bad.

And again the religious leader that OP was talking about, his goal of becoming a religious leader is just to earn money, not just to convey teachings, which shouldn't be a problem without pay. This has another purpose.

At present, gambling has gone to a stage where the religious leaders, the priest are not beyond of it. I can say that not every priest or leader will play. Every human being has the freedom to gamble if he wishes. I haven't heard any such news but this is not incredible. Moreover, if those priests play, they will never be revealed their gambling activities. They will never want to lose their credibility by publishing all that information.

There's no status in choosing playing gambling if you want to play and get entertained there's a chance you get addicted no matter what status do you have as long as you are capable to play base on OP they are just one have a job but not all the time those job are in a life time it's all about people own choice and perspective.

Exactly what I thought. We all know that the teachings and preachings that they've got are always against gambling. But with all of those temptations and the riches that they've got, that have made them easy do what they think will satisfy them.
So, from the very start, it's possible that the pastor has already been aiming for some bucks from his attendees and that's why many people even the atheists are mocking the churches because of acts like this.

The pastor shut down his ministry, you could say he doesn't want anyone questioning his gambling adventure that resulted in him winning more than half a million USD so it's best to just shutdown.  He also confessed he wasn't really called to preach lord's work. He just did it for money.  :-[  

We're all guilty of something, I would still forgive the guy even for wagering the money that is from the congregation. Hope he donates some to the church he once with.

I don't think that pastor was called by God to become a pastor,if not the spirit of God will let him know that gambling is a sin to religious leaders as they are to teach their church members this side effect of gambling.

In Africa,poverty and joblessness has made people to open churches in order to deceive people as a means of hustle to get their daily bread through the tithe and offerings that church members put in their churches. This has trigger so many evil deeds by pastors to make fast money and they involve themselves in various means to get money. I can sense it that that pastor is fake,if not he will not abandon his flock just because he won big. This is when he is suppose to use the money for charity since those are what he preaches.

In the case of Christianity and Islam gambling is forbidden or discouraged.
But you also need to be aware that God created humankind with our own will so we can indeed choose whether to obey the commandments of our religions or not.

I have got the impression people over-estimate the personality and religious believes of pastors and priests, to the point people forget they are human beings as well, so they are capable or hypocrisy and even crimes they would keep in secret.

The ideal scenario would not to forget those things and also keep them in mind while looking for a spiritual guide.

I will answer that you can, but with the existing terms and conditions. If they bet on sports betting, they must have the skills and abilities to gather more information in choosing the team to compete in. If they bet on card games, they must also have the skills and abilities to play those card games.

A religious leader can gamble without anyone knowing. But only a handful of religious leaders may gamble, while other religious leaders will argue that gambling is prohibited in their religion. If we talk about moral issues, it will come back to each person about gambling. And it's best not to bring gambling or religion into gambling. It will depend on each of them to respond to it.

Depends on the belief of an individual or within a religion. Belief in the first place has no concrete basis. But if this is concerning living through gambling alone, the answer is a big no. Let us say that you happen to win a huge amount, would that be enough? No amount is enough especially because of the tendency that your expenses could change as well, consuming your winnings faster. Winning in the first place is not certain. If you happen not to win again and end up not being able to maintain your expenses after a huge win, for sure it'll leave you broke. Also, the more you are depending in this industry, the bigger your bets would be.Yes, never the belief to be questioned but the individual himself, whether to engage or not in this industry. Change is innevitable and is observant to all individuals across races, beliefs, and status.

Religions are the teachings of the ancient world, and in the ancient world unjust gain is forbidden. Money earned with the value of money without effort has been seen as humiliating by everyone from Aristotle to Plato. In fact, Aristotle even had negative views about interest. So, what I mean is that the old world's point of view is not the same as the world we live in. That's why we don't understand or misunderstand some of the religions and their teachings... The pastor mentioned in the subject seems to have adapted to the world we live in and did not understand the nature of religions correctly. So it's perfectly natural for him to gamble.

No one justifies that making a living from gambling will never work, and continuing to try to make it will be a sin, because it has gotten out of hand.
But gambling can be a sin, even a mortal sin, if it is carried out excessively which undermines personal honesty or causes a person to suffer great losses which endanger society and especially the dependents of his family.
and I don't blame the priests for gambling as long as it's not excessive, and actually a lot because we don't know and they don't want people to know either and it's all just for fun, and also don't harm yourself and also others.
I like to play cards with some religious figures while on patrol, but not using money and just for fun.

I guess anyone is free to gamble as long you chose it, regardless if you are a religious leader or not. Although for most religions, gambling is strictly prohibited but we can’t stop a person if he chose to gamble because he has his own views and reasons of doing it. Yes, it could be his ministry earnings is not sufficient enough, or it could be that he just want to gamble to try his luck and hope to make it big with gambling.

From the story you just posted, it answers the question. Not all religious leaders, but some religious leaders gamble. You will be surpeised some of the other activities some religious engage in even asides gambling. Religious leaders are not always as perfect and without habits as you think.

Depending on their religion, It is possible that some religions hold no belief against gambling, for the religious leaders of such religion, gambling is okay for them.

If your belief does not accept it, it becomes a sin as you ae going against what you believe, but if your religion does not consider it sin, then there's nothing wrong.

If the said pastor did quit after winning huge amount then its up to him on what are his decisions to be made in life because we know that we could really deal up with things as long we do have the money.
It is really just that it turns out that its pretty obvious that he doesnt really want an issue once he would make himself get engage with gambling while he still preaches out God's word.

You are right on which gambling could be always seen as a negative thing on which we know that it would really be just a normal act that they would quit up just for them to make themselves
not really that too guilty if ever they would really be committing out something.

Gambling is neither a sin nor a vice, as some religions say. Gambling is played regardless of gender, place of residence, religion, or personal beliefs. Both poor and even very rich people play. Personally, I am of the opinion that if my interests do not interfere with other people's freedom, then I am not doing anything wrong. And of course I don't care what highly religious people think.

Different people have their different motives for being religious leaders. Some are in it for the fame, some are in it for the money, some are in it for the impact but the ultimate test of their motives is money. Money reveals alot about human character and behaviour. The pastor in this story may have been unemployed and thought that starting a church is the way out of poverty however he kept his gambling as a side hustle, sort of like a 2-factor authentication.


Do religious leaders gamble?
Yes, they gamble some are just not bold enough to say it because of how people would look at them.

Is it right for religious leaders to gamble?
There is no rightness or wrongness here it is just how you choose to see it.

What is the ethical and moral implications of gambling, particularly in the context of religious practices and beliefs?
For me the ethical and moral consideration here is if you gamble as a religious leader, do not condemn it openly and go ahead to gamble secretly. It is hypocrisy and it is ethically and morally wrong.

But if he didn't win I think he wouldn't actually quit and would still continue to preach the word and gamble in hiding. He lives a double life. Now that he is a millionaire, he wants to give up the other lives he lived.

I couldn't really tell whether what he is doing is ethical or not. Believe it or not, he acts accordingly in order to live in a way he knows. Working as a pastor I guess is much better than being part of a looting gang. If he didn't work as a pastor, he might not win millions as well.

Previously there was a thread that had the topic of being able to make a living from gambling.
But it's okay if you don't know it yet and want to see lots of answers to that question.
It is difficult for someone to make a living from gambling because by gambling someone also has the opportunity to lose and even lose some money so the chance to make a living from gambling is only 30% and the remaining 70% is the chance for the gambler to lose most of his money.
All religions clearly prohibit gambling and all religious leaders will order all adherents of that religion to stay away from gambling.
About a priest who won a gambling like an impossible story but no one knows the certainty of the story and indeed someone can violate what has become forbidden if they are faced with a large amount of money.

I don't mind if a religious leader gamble or not, what I am more critical is the questions

Is it right to create a church to feed your family? 

Is it right to fool people for religious donations to meet your families need?

Is it right to make fake prophesies just to make the religious follower believe that the person is a true messenger of God?

That is way worst than asking people whether gambling is ethical for a religious leader or not.  After all the person involved is a fake.

Answering the question you asked is clearly not going to be easy, no, I mean there are still many religious leaders who still adhere to what they say and what they do. And when a religious leader does something contrary to what he says, we can't punish them all for doing the same thing right?
When it comes from religious beliefs, it comes back to them personally, I personally cannot judge them, because that is the relationship between their beliefs and themselves. But if I see it in plain view, that shouldn't have happened, because taking action contrary to what he said is something that is not good, especially if he is a religious leader.

This isn't surprising at all because pastors are more loose when it comes to rules imposed by the Church. They don't practice celibacy, often divorce their wives, have illegitimate children and so on.
The fact that he gambled and decided to live a different life only shows that being a priest wasn't the way of life he always wanted, but instead it was the easy way for him. He wanted respect so he became a religious leader, but now he can buy respect. He doesn't need to be humble. I'm not religious myself so for me it's easy to understand that many people who hide behind religion are in fact shallow.  

I have not seen any religion that outrightly bans or condemn football and as a matter of ethics, there have been football tournament arranged in the religious house and this is no exceotion to any religion, as a matter of fact some religious leader discussed football and if their bet on them I don't know how the member or the public will judge such case.

First of all, I'm not sure this story is true. even if so, as a religious leader actions like this cannot be justified. Talking about gambling, in fact gambling can be played by anyone, regardless of position, title, or profession. everyone can enjoy it, playing only for fun, relaxing himself with the game he likes.

Referring to this post, there will be various responses or comments from us and the community. the response will vary greatly. depending on one's viewpoint. because if we talk from the point of view of belief, things like this one hobby are part that is not allowed, we can refer to attitudes and morals. however, in the modern era like today. Gambling is not something that is taboo like in the past, even gambling is now a fun part of entertainment in the motripolitan era. therefore, gambling in many countries has been legalized. However, the negative impact inherent in the eyes of the wider community does not just disappear.

Well, as ordinary people, these religious leaders still like worldly things. To be honest, we can't really blame him, because he really understands what he's doing himself. it's just that, we can't demand much from what he does and his profession. it indicates, that humans are very easily tempted by things that are the pleasures of the world. well, because the religious leader has closed his ministry. it is better, because what he does is contrary to what he understands and teaches.

I have read up somewhere or someone do make out some clarification that the amount is just too small or a thousand dollars only and not involving millions which does mean that it isnt really that something big

for him to quit up and close their church.Well, its his decision to make and its true that if he wasnt been able to hit up some wins then for sure he would continue on preaching out those fake God words.

You cant really be able to tell on whats deep inside and intents of a certain person until he do make out some actions which neither we couldnt really either believe
that they have done it.

Well,of course they can play gambling.Just imagine how many people around the world do it but they just don't advertise it and it doesn't get into the press.Of course,they should set an example for believers and not succumb to temptation but unfortunately there are also negative cases that the public learns about from a news source.

It depends on the religion in question, while there are quite a few that forbid gambling there are others that are more open about it and just criticize those which cannot control themselves, however even if this pastor was doing something that supposedly was forbidden, it is not rare to find many hypocrites that preach one thing and then they do another, so do not worry too much about it as there will always be people like that which are not real believers.

There are some religious leaders that gambles, even implement it to their community in disguise of fund colletion.


It is the right of a religious leader to gamble especially if gambling is legal in their country.  But it is morally wrong if the religious leader is telling their followers that gambling is bad and should be avoided.



In Christian faith, many believe that gambling puts a person in distance from God.  Since it was stated by the founder of the faith Jesus that no one can serve two master at the same time, many followers concluded that when a person is gambling he choses money over God(which I think is moot).  And another thing is on 1 Timothy 6:9-10

So basically in a Christain's belief, engaging in gambling activities is immoral but I wonder how they come up with such idea when during their fund raising and celebration, they often sell tickets for raffle or lottery. 

I created a new thread on this before coming across this thread here, though mine is with a different context and discussion...

From what I know and have read in the bible, it is actually a sin for religious leaders to gamble, but some of them still do it anyway, I've come across several pastors who are into sports betting, its a shameful thing but it is what the world have turned into, and for this Ugandan pastor, i would say that what he did was the extreme, or height of it all, my pity is with the members that must have served and respected him for several years as a man of genuine man of God, but all the same, it is all for our learning.

I also agree with you and I also don't really engage in conversations that argue about the possibility of people loving a nice and decent lives through gambling because I've heard and seen people who live very comfortably off gambling which is a prove that gambling isn't really bad after all.
To me gamble isn't bad and as a Christian, I haven't read or heard of any place in the bible where is was or it's a sin to gamble and I don't think there is any law that restrains clergymen from gambling provided they do so responsibly.
I read the news and I couldn't stop laughing at the point when the pastor had to close down his church and it just made me remember a saying that if you want to see the truth character of a man, give him money and power

I want to make a long story short based on what you are asking.It is simple,out of 100.000 million people that I am taking an example as gamblers the people who manage to hit a life changing win are very few like 5.000 or less in that 100.000 million and that in percentage my friend is very little.The people who made such life changing winnings have a ton of luck by their side and 0 skill as big wins no matter how skillful you are in sport bet rarely I have seen someone with his skill to win a ticket with 100.000 or more as an odd,while in slot machines if the game decides to favor you then the life changing event is inevitable,you only have to be bold enough to play with a reasonably high bet otherwise it is not a life changing event.

I think that all people gamble,religious and non religious as this is deep in our roots and nature,we want to become rich quick and this why very few make it in claiming and achieving a life changing bet.

I also often hear about this question. There are still doubts and ignorance about gambling. And when someone asks a question like that, basically he also doesn't have strong and good management in gambling activities. So this will actually have a bad impact. especially of course those who ask questions like this just want to focus and know about how much they can get from gambling, but they forget one thing that is very crucial, namely loss probabilities. We already understand very well how dangerous gambling is, in fact many people have lost big because of gambling, because they don't understand how to play and manage money and risks. So this makes gambling addiction which is very bad for his life and finances.

Our definition whether if gambling is good or bad usually depends on how we deal with its risk. Not everyone could be lucky in gambling so we can't say that it's good for everyone. Gambling was originally made to entertain people so we can't say that it's bad. We could either fail or succeed in gambling depending on our luck and fate.
Anyone could gamble regardless of their beliefs or religious sector. There are lots of religious leaders that gamble and it will only ruin their image if they will play abusively without control.

and to add, if these leaders will play publicly. their reputation for sure will go down hard. gambling is good if you know how to handle yourself. but if not, this can devastate your life, even lose your loved ones in the process.
also, on the note about religious leaders who are into gambling. they are deem to be the role models, for sure, you will question your faith if you are seeing your pastor or priest betting publicly. but more then likely, there are a lot of these leaders who are discreetly into gambling activities.

In my opinion, the issue of gambling and religion is a complex one that requires a nuanced approach. While some religious teachings condemn gambling, others may view it as a personal choice that is not necessarily sinful. As for religious leaders, I believe that they are just like any other human beings and may also engage in gambling activities. They are not saints.

Gambling can ruin a person's reputation especially if he is a religious teacher or leader because we all know that gambling is against religious belief and teachings. I agree that religious leaders should stand as role models so their followers and congregation will follow in their footsteps. That pastor has been selfish but maybe he has different plan for his own life but he has done his exit irresponsibly. In the first place, he should not accepted the responsibility of being a pastor if it is against his will.

We usually hear good stories about gambling that gambling and betting is changing people's fortune, while actually, it is not. Most of the gamblers are losing their money in gambling. Yes, there are few who are lucky to make fortune out of it and the media is projecting them.
People get inspired by such stories and they ask a question like if they can leave the hard jobs and if gambling can fulfill their day to day expenses.



Well, i would say that everyone gambles including religious persons and scholars. Also, why do we point only to these religious people when the religion is applied on every person including you and me  ???

You should read more carefully the news bro, it wasn't an extra mean to feed his family because he just closed his church after having made his big win of 100m NGN, Mate2237 has even opened a thread (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5446198.0) about that specific matter. In addition he won his bet thanks to a fixed game which I don't think is a moral thing approved by any church or religion. I don't know why they needed his money but I guess it was to bribe the players actually.

Am a Muslim and I will be speaking for my religion alone, in my religion gambling is wrong, either you are a religion leader or not gambling is generally wrong, but to me honest with you, some religion leaders in my country do gamble because I know few of them that do gamble, actually you won't know they do gamble because they gamble only online, you will never see then visiting gambling house, some of them that knows that am a gambler do ask me for bet code, because they know I will never expose there secrets.

I can't find a news source like your statement, can you show the news source that you found because he deliberately closed the church after getting a gambling win and according to the news source from the article above that he also neglected the congregation who wanted to worship on Sunday, so his behavior did not reflect a leader religion and he did what he called strict prohibitions in religion.

Religion is a concept between the heart of people and the creator. The clergy can only give advice on using certain methods. That is, they explain and describe the rituals. However, a good guide should also be on the way, because we cannot rely on a directions given to us by someone who is not on the way. Besides, I don't think gambling can be a livelihood. And I think it wouldn't be right for those who trust a clergyman to gamble. Fortunately, I deleted all brokerage firms from my life a long time ago. I am comfortable with this.

No one can ever manage their life well based on gambling. I have seen people who have tried to make a living out of gambling have had a very bad life. Maybe gambling will make you profit for some time but most of the time you will lose money. So this gambling game I never consider fit to lead life.
In answer to your question I mean gambling is prohibited for every religion. All these issues are discussed especially from the religious office. If the religious leaders who scrutinize these matters the most are the ones who favor gambling, it is completely anti-religious. Because everyone respects and loves religious leaders. Whenever people love a religious leader, that religious leader should live the love of every people. So I think religious leaders should always keep themselves safe from gambling.

I never doubted that gambling could change someone's life, just as I don't doubt that playing the lottery can change someone's life.

What I doubt is that gambling or lottery can change anyone's life, I doubt that gambling can change many people's life, I doubt that gambling can change someone's life just because he wants it so much that.

There will always be a few people making a lot of money from gambling, while there will always be a lot of other people losing a lot of money from gambling.

In the middle of this, there are the people who are prudent, who play with caution in order to become one of the people who will one day win a lot of money, but without deluding themselves so much that they become one of those who will lose a lot of money. .

Which of these people would you rather be?
What would you rather believe?

I'm not sure of your point, but tell me, do you know of a specific gambling strategy that guarantees something? Is there even one? I know that so many lives have changed because of gambling, 99% for the worse, 1% for the better.


If I'm not mistaken, Christians don't treat gambling as a sin. I'm not sure, though, if there is a particular Christian sect that treats gambling otherwise. Muslims, however, consider gambling as haram. However, there are still casinos in some Muslim countries.

The right and wrong traditional dilemma. We don't even know how much the pastor gambled to win that amount. There are many ways now to make a $1 bet become a million. i.e. parlays and promotional events by gambling sites. Casinos do have slots that also have a jackpot feature. As long as a person didn't abuse the budget, I guess he is doing fine.
Now, if that money is neither yours nor a responsible way then it makes it look bad.
I don't commend this kind of acts by pastors or priests because they must be someone to look up to and to follow, but they are also humans who will have the desire to get out of their unsatisfactory lives so they try the easiest way available so I won't judge them either.

Gambling is just that, anyone can gamble, now even if he is a pastor of a church if he even thinks about gambling it is his choice. In something like that, we can only see a lesson there.

And the lesson that I see is that the pastor seems to have made the holding of the church milky, and when he had the opportunity to have a lot of money, he was blinded by the money, he became greedy so even his responsibility in a religious group was he was able to surrender and abandon its members.

In Catholic, it is not considered sinful unless the indulgence can no longer be controlled. I learned a preach that says people should not be too attach  in earthly things and I believe that that involves gambling.

Also, I don't think that people can make a living through gambling alone. It can be a past time or a leisure but to make a living through it, I think it would take more dedication and addiction. Some gets rich with gambling too but it's because they can afford.

gambling for me is freedom for everyone who wants to do it and there are no restrictions on who can gamble there. there are so many religious leaders who gamble in different countries and it's not even surprising that people know about it.
religious leaders who gamble but when preaching say bad things about gambling, for me it is a natural thing when a leader tries to give good advice to his followers to avoid gambling, it is not hypocrisy but only leads to a better path even though the leader does bad stuff.

and you need to know that everyone is free to do whatever they want, even if it is gambling, regardless of whether he is a religious leader or just an ordinary citizen.

That is freedom because no one can judge what they are doing by playing gambling, but behind all that it is certainly unethical if the opening religion does it just for the sake of wanting to win bigger and of course, the statement of the sermon will be slightly contradictory while the opening religion others who are against gambling will be a little different and they are pressing in a more straight forward direction.

I also won't blame their approach, they still have the freedom to do so if we as a people follow them and think again in the context that was discussed.

We must realize that gambling cannot be avoided now that it has become a daily game in society.

Pastors who gamble are not men of God. A real man of God would never get close to gambling because gambling is a sin. Some religions see nothing wrong with gambling, but the majority of them do.

If he can also quit his ministry because he won a lot of money, it indicates that he started that ministry to earn some money, just like many pastors in churches today who are mostly fake, and the fastest way to earn money is through religion, deceiving people by using God's name and corrupting their minds.

Most pastors chant the name of God for their own selfish gain, brainwashing people into fearing God, and exchanging money and fortune for their own selfish gain.

Pastors should no longer think about worldly matters and focus on providing services to the people only. But if a priest gambles because he wants to earn a lot of money, it is a mistake because why should he gamble? Isn't that forbidden in religion? Maybe there needs to be a discussion between the priest and the people and the people involved in that place so they can find out why the priest is gambling.

But if someone wants to make a living from gambling, they need to think about it often because it is not easy or even impossible, especially if they don't have the skills and abilities to bet. Say they want to make a living from sports betting but can't analyze and find valid info. Can they win? Certainly not.

If this story you provide is true then I'm sorry to disappoint you that the pastor in question is not genuine.

I'm sure the reason he opened his own ministry in the first place is to make money through like from his members offering and also their tithes, not because of the messages that he can deliver to the people.
And right now in our society we have so many people like this disguising themselves as Many of God or pastor but in reality all they want is the goodies that comes with that title, and they have managed to put doubts in the mind of those that are believers of the religion.

For me, it's challenging to discern if a gambling pastor is truly a servant of God or not. We're all humans at the end of the day, with imperfections and enticements. Scripture doesn't expressly forbid gambling, but it cautions against the love of money, often at the heart of the gamble. Addiction to gambling is a genuine concern, causing financial disaster and graver consequences, leading many spiritual leaders to counsel against it.

Concerning pastors leaving their ministry after hitting it big, it boils down to personal conviction. Some might feel that a windfall clashes with their faith or could incite a conflict of interest. Others may persist in their ministry and give a slice of their winnings to philanthropic pursuits. Ultimately, the choice lies with the person.

From what I see, that Ugandan pastor, David Ochieng, wasn't much of a religious person. Since he has shut down his church right after winning a big amount of money, it is obvious that the church was a source of money for him, and nothing else.

Whether religious leaders should gamble or not, it depends on their religion. If they preach about gambling being a sin, then maybe they shouldn't. But that's in theory. In reality it is much more complicated than that.

From all indication that tells you that the so-called pastor didn't receive a divine call to establish his ministry or church for propagation of the gospel rather his ministry was opened to purposely for financial rewards, of course after hitting a jackpot of 100million shillings he closed down his church, in the first place a pastor shouldn't involve in gambling because he will often preach against that on the pulpit then why indulging in something that is a sin? of course the bible prophecy is coming to past as regards many fake pastors and prophets will mislead alot of people.

The fact remains that every man needs money and craves for a better life, regardless of whether he is a servant of God or not.

When people talk about servant of God, it makes me feel as though we want them to be nonhuman, they're just like us.

Being a servant of God doesn't mean you it's forbidden to dream of a better life, they deserve all the good things we all strive to achieve.

This Pastor who left his ministry for such a big amount of money, may have a good reason for doing so, but let's not jump right to conclusions.

There are many other pastors like him that do evil things to make money, if all this man did was gamble I don't see anything wrong here, and if it's wrong may God forgive us all.

It will not be easy to make a living through gambling because many people have tried it but failed halfway.

If someone is a religious leader, he is not allowed to gamble because religion forbids someone from gambling. But when greed comes to that person, anything can happen, including the religious leader who changes his attitude by closing his ministry. And it depends on his confidence not to play gambling like other people.

Many people make their living through gambling and that doesn't guarantee that they have finds it a means for total survival on a living because gambling jobs varies from each other while some basically depends on the bet they stake in gambling for sustainance, as in his own case this may be his first of its kind to experience winning a huge amount but leaving the profession he has be doing is not right to be kindid.

this is a subject that can be interpreted in many ways, but in most cases people are right when they tell others to distance themselves from gambling, the reason is simple: few people make money from gambling, most people lose money, sell assets and are admitted to addiction rehabilitation clinics



This attitude of the pastor can be seen in two ways:

1 - maybe the pastor was only a pastor because he needed to earn money and now that he has money he no longer needs to be a pastor to live on donations from believers, I am not here criticizing religion, these are things that we all see every day, we all know that many pastors keep posting videos where they appear doing miracles, maybe the pastor now that he has money is feeling remorseful and decided to stop it

2 - maybe the pastor saw that there are many believers and that as he won money in gambling, then the believers can start copying him and they will lose money, so the pastor decided to close the church for the good of his believers


priests, pastors and all religious leaders are people, they have the right to do whatever they want with their private lives, as long as they don't induce believers to play too

People have different opinions on gambling, and when it comes to religious leaders, it can be a more sensitive topic. The pastor also has a different opinion (or his opinion changed after gambling and winning, who knows...) and when he won, he decided to no longer be a pastor and shut down his church. The pastor here made a personal choice, and it might not necessarily reflect the stance of his entire religious community. As for the ethical and moral implications of gambling, it can vary depending on one's beliefs and values. Some might think gambling is morally wrong, others might think that it is fine to gamble as long as they aren't hurting anyone.

This is a sad incident, really, imagine a recognized leader of a religious group was tempted by money and left his members because he won a lot of money gambling. He also ruined his personality and reputation and shamed their God that they believed in.

       Although that's his freedom, but everything we do, whether it's good or bad, we'll pay for it in the last time when we stand before God, that's why the pastor who won the gamble didn't think about it because he was blinded and became wild with money.

In addition to the cases above, I have read several media reports that religious leaders are not always right and cannot be used as role models in life from the perspective of their behavior even though they convey God's verses to others, but their mistakes are in personal behavior to be biased and ignore religious prohibitions, Pastor's Case above can be a lesson for all of us that they are also ordinary humans who can change at any time, but unfortunately they have chosen the path of evil because of the influence of gambling addiction to earn money.

As I said in my previous post, that there will be lots of comments or responses from the community. I try to read from page one, until the next page. the answer is very varied. but in fact, gambling will never be separated from human life. from a business standpoint, it is very profitable, from a historical point of view, gambling has been discovered since ancient China.

Referring to the contents of the topic of this thread, whether gambling can be used as a job to make a living. the answer is, it depends. what kind of gambling does someone want to get into, what potential does someone have, insight, skill, knowledge, luck.  all of them become one unit that must be owned by someone who wants to work professionally in gambling. but the question is, are there people who have succeeded in making a living from gambling. the answer is unknown. if the OP wants to try it, go ahead and good luck.

So, let's discuss from the opening side of the religion that is the subject of our discussion. the answer is as I said before. that in fact, gambling at this time is not something that is taboo. even so, in some religious teachings gambling is something that is prohibited, maybe in some other beliefs, gambling is not prohibited but there are rules that explain it that a religious leader cannot do something that does not set a good example for his followers.

Apart from all that, the essence that I got from this thread is. that as a human being, whatever his profession, position, title, even if someone is a religious leader. will never be separated from everything that is fun, or you could say worldly pleasures. yes it makes no difference as we think, that gambling is a hobby.

Well, personally, I just feel he was tempted, but unfortunately, he failed.
He said it that he was not called, but the greed of things of life pushed him to becoming a pastor, I feel that money was God's way of giving him an opportunity to become even stronger in the ministry and hold God even more tighter, but unfortunately, he left God completely to join the world..

One thing that is certain is that he eventually will keep gambling and betting, even more than before since he now has money, and the way the whole money will disappear will shock him, some people never learn, until they are forced to learn the hard way.

It is interesting how anyone would react to this news depending on their political and religious beliefs.
Someone who does not believe in anything, would say this is good for the person and nothing wrong happened, while if we keep in mind the religious context, we can talk about temptations and failure to hold to his duties.

But, if you asked me, this story could have ended way worse if that religious leader became addicted to gambling/betting and spent the money of the church completely into those vices. At least, he decided to retire form his service and letting know his community he is not suitable for it, before something worse could happen. 

^ He is free whatever he wants but because of his position as a religious leader that is difficult to speak even for all religious leaders, it is not uncommon for some individuals who hold religious positions to gamble. They know at the very first place that gambling may conflict with the principles and beliefs that they preach to their congregations. Probably that is the reason the Pastor quit his position because it becomes a conflict with his current position and more worst when people know it.

It is a matter of your moral compass. I've seen a lot of religious folks engage in a lot of immoral activities and still attend church regularly. They preach about the teachings of God and does it so in a very condescending manner, as if they are not doing something wrong. Personally, I don't have any problems against these church leaders engaging in these kinds of activities. After all, they don't influence me in any way but those whom they stand up to are the ones that should really think about whether they'll still follow the church leader or not.

Not only that most pastors and preachers often use the bible verses in order to get donations from people.  They often preaches about giving and tithes so that they can easily collect funds to support their living.  I am not against such teachings if the religious leader is really sincere and he has really has the calling of God to be His messenger.  Unlike the guy who is stated in this thread.  That he create a religious group in order to support his living and is not actually has the calling.  This guy action is obviously a fraud.  I wonder if there is a law that can be use to sue this person and penalized him of his evil deeds.

Yes, they don't affect you, me, but they do affect the immature minds of teenagers and people who tend to believe everything, especially people who hold public office, such as police officers, pastors, politicians, etc. The more such people mislead the population, the sillier the population will become, which is the road to bank slavery, poverty, and uneducation.

Preacher are also human too, where greed and emotion are still there despite of their chosen field. Having your own church seems to become more of a business now where you collect money from your followers. Winning the jackpot can be a life changing, and you cannot blame him for closing his own church after winning the jackpot, I’m just wondering where he is now and what is his new business.

You cant really tell that everyone would be having that kind of same perspective and reaction whenever they do see a church leader whose really get involved into these kind of activities considering if he do preach out
literally contrary with this activity then it would really just be giving out that bad impression and criticism on what he had done.Of course for  those person or church leaders then they wont really be that dumb on not to mind on what are people would be thinking up in this regard.This is why they would really be deciding on quitting or flocking away just because they do already know on what most people would really be doing.
For me it isnt really that a major issue since it isnt something that connects with immoral things on where these leaders do usually get involved on.

Yeah, the real answer will be are you willing to stop gambling? given these reasons are we going to continue to gamble or not. There is no religion on earth that allows drug dealing also people who took drugs needed to be jail and have some rehab. It is still based on your decision whether you should stop or you will follow yourself and prove to them you will not be addicted.

Addiction is one thing, and going against your own religion seems to be more of addiction to me. Church leaders are a role model to their followers, and if they can’t live what they are preaching then its better for them to stop doing it and stop fooling people. Winning the lottery is a big thing and with that money you can use that to make your church bigger but that guy choses a different path and I hope his followers will not follow him anymore.

Well, it depends on how you think about that, is it real? is it possible? are there really people who make living from gambling?

Not because those people who make a living from gambling, really say that thing,  doesn't mean they always win at their gambling activity. It's just that they were able to maintain those good and consistent winnings to support their living.

Up to you to believe or not as honestly, it doesn't even matter to know if that's true. We just focus and mind our own business.

We see professional gamblers doing well but if you ask me, I do not think that being a professional gambler or gambling being the main source of income is for everyone. There are just special people who can control their gambling habits and make money from it. I would not advice anyone to consider gambling as a main source of income, but I would not go against them if they wanted to try. Maybe they could make it, nobody knows.


Not all religious groups are for good anyway so I will not be surprised if we saw pastors gambling or doing illegal stuff and going against their own teachings.

Pastors should not and cannot gamble even if they want to because its the people's donation that sustains them and the congregation will not like it it will appear that they are the ones encouraging and sustaining his gambling activity,
He will either remain in the ministry or leave the ministry, the story you provided is very sad because he just manipulated and deceive his members into thinking that they have the right Pastor to follow.
Some religious leaders are good in hiding their real intention so check if your pastor is a wolf cloth in sheep's clothing.

People would definitely follow on whats up into their minds and would really be exchanging out for whatever they are currently dealing with even on what position they do have as long they would really be able to focus

out on something just like gambling since they do have the money on using on then for sure they would really be sticking with that and this is where these decisions do really make up.We dont have any choice because
this is where people do make out their decisions and its impossible that they wont really that aware on what they are doing. Just let them be on what are the things that they would gonna do.
They arent that small or children who arent on their minds on making non worth actions.Its impossible that they dont know on what are the things that could possibly happen.

It is not fair to categories them to a specific religion, consider everyone as an individual and everyone has their flaws. Even if he is a pastor or a preacher and if he thinks that gambling is fine for his fun time, then what is wrong in that unless he starts spending others money. People flock to religion when they are really facing any issues in their life and if they are providing good advises, then it can help them.

I think that this person should be investigated. Anyone a part of any religious group and handles money definitely should not be gambling. I can't say that I am surprised though. When it comes to financial crime and misappropriating charity, religious groups are definitely not anymore likely or innocent than any other business. Just because they put forward "good values" to their community, that does not mean that they practice what they preach. In my opinion, people should ditch giving to the collection plate and believe in something that might actually return goodness to them and humanity later...like Bitcoin.

As a religious leader, he should be able to set a good example for his congregation and always remind them about the dangers of gambling instead of gambling and finally close his service. But I don't know what was on his mind until he decided to gamble but he was lucky to get a lot of money. Hopefully, this will not happen again, and a religious leader can uphold his principles and beliefs properly. And that's a human who can change because of temptation.

Many religions are against gambling, but it doesn't mean their followers or their leaders can't be tempted to gamble unless they're a firm believer and don't want to go against their teachings.

In op's story, this pastor is not a role model to his followers because he chose to close his ministry because of the fortune he received through gambling. He chose money over his ministry, I wonder what his followers felt after seeing what happened.

On the contrary, I've seen and I also know people who are living  very comfortable lives through gambling and I know of some one who built his life round gambling because he won over $40k when converted to my local currency, it was a very huge amount of money that got him a car, a nice place and then he began investing in casinos and was owning some physical outlets for Casinos and earning some commissions and that has been his field and I don't see him as an addicted gambler because he only plays when he see a nice game.

Just as I said before that I don't think religion has anything to do with someone wanting to gamble and I don't see anything wrong with a pastor gambling as everyone has any equal chances of winning and losing.

   -   Yes, you're right, I remembered the Kapa organizations that made billions, but the only difference is that they give something back to their members, but it's because of gambling. Apparently, the establishment of religious groups is made to milk money and to avoid tax.

And the verses in the bible are also written in this book that even bad people will use the verses to cheat their members in the church. That means, from the very beginning this ptr that was mentioned had really bad intentions, that's all I can see.

Yes, all religions forbid the practice of gambling, moreover this is done by religious leaders and it really is a bad example so that religious leaders close their services to all their followers, it's the same at my place but he is still diligent in worship even though he likes to play gambling, maybe this is what is called becoming a gambling addict when you start to get engrossed in it so it is difficult to stop it, let alone become gambling as a reference for fulfilling your life's needs, aka being used as a place to make a living, it is clear that it is absolutely impossible to make gambling a place to make a living.

luck will not come for the umpteenth time, if indeed the religious leader is lucky then it will be difficult to get other luck later, especially if he continues, of course it is a very wrong choice so that it leaves his followers.

Gambling is not allowed in any religion. In that case, information about the priest ‍addiction in gambling would discredit him socially. Also, gambling money you spend on improving the church can definitely be positive but if you lose there, it can have the opposite effect. But now conducting gambling is very easy anyone can manage the gambling with privacy. If you participate in the lottery after a certain period of time, there will be no big effect.

That pastor who won gambling for sure he open the church for profit and money i think he is one of those people who are exploiting religious people because if he is real pastor then why he closes his church also regarding gambling , others really gamble but it is really prohibited if you are really religious but it is not strict that is why they continue to gamble. Their are really pastor or priest do respect their belief so they wont gamble

I will say, okay then what? :P

A pastor shouldn't gamble because it's forbidden, but does he will go to jail after shut down his ministry? nope, his followers will not happy with him but life goes on and he can migrate to other country if he can't accept society sanction.

It's what it's, the current society is more focus to make more money even though they need to scam their friends or doing anything illegal.

Corrupt religious leaders exist since the creation of religions. Many priests and pastors are involved in worse things than gambling.
Gambling has no moral and ethical implications. The pastor from Uganda mentioned in this article is a real gangsta. ;D I'm sorry to say that, but the whole story sounds kinda funny. OK, this guy had won a big amount or money. Why does he have to shut down his church?
Maybe his preaching would help other people to find true meaning in life(despite him not being a role model).
I guess that he never really wanted to be a pastor.

I don't agree with you mate and I understand that you're stating your mind and your point but on the other hand, I've seen pastors and priest also contest for political positions and still win and since they can't serve two masters, had to quit the  previous work of being a pastor and face their political career and just of recent in Nigeria, a priest was elected a governor of a state and he was glad to accept the responsibility and that doesn't mean he was a pastor because of money and hence from your context, it seems you expecting pastors and religious leaders not to get rich.
Money and power is the two factors that brings out the true character of a man and the winnings from his bet has brought out his true character.

There are some messengers of god who also want to try materialistic things such pranks and memes, but it is the first for me to hear such story that a Pastor shut down his own ministry due to gambling. The story about a Pastor gambling alone is already new to me, how much more shutting the whole temple or ministry? and also, based on that story alone it only proves why he wanted to become a pastor. Not only he tarnished the reputation of many other good pastors but also showed us some nasty example.

I have already heard lots of bad deeds about some messengers of god like doing drugs, sexual harassments, abortion and many more. This are only few examples I heard. There was also a breaking news few years ago about a pastor/founder inviting their followers in an investment scheme.

When someone want to learn about religion more than other person and want to become a pastor, it doesn't mean all pastors have a same purpose. Few pastors are use it to make money, to abuse his power, to mislead other people etc. Maybe this pastor also want to make money too because he choose to gamble and earn a lot money rather than continue his job in ministry. But he will not get any punishment because he was not broke any law in his country.

Even though their religious leaders are still ordinary people who definitely have the desire to do something that is contrary to the rules of their religion.
This happens everywhere and there are many more incidents like you have told us about.
Gambling is just a minor religious taboo and so easy to practice that many people, from good people to criminals, have all had some experience of gambling as there are many forms of gambling.
So don't be surprised if a priest makes a bet even though he has often told his followers that gambling is an act that is forbidden.

Well, priests are human and some even have sex despite being forbidden to do so (although depending on the type of church, not all are forbidden to do so), so I am not surprised that they gamble. In this case, given that he was betting and after winning that amount he has decided to shut down the ministry, it seems to me that he is going to indulge in earthly pleasures for a while.

Saw this in another post earlier (or yesterday I think). I'd say they're free to gamble imo, just that my say in this actually has no implications whatsoever since what they follow is the doctrine of whatever religion they follow (and I'm not really that religious of a person). I don't think anyone has any right to "reject" a person to gamble just based on their beliefs, but that's up to them, I myself am completely fine with anyone gambling really.

I'd say it's unethical to gamble when the doctrine they follow strictly says not to, and even if it doesn't explicitly state it, gambling is mostly frowned upon by a majority (if not all) of religions so just the act of thinking about it is enough to label someone as unethical, especially in the case of a pastor which is a leading person in any religion. Honestly wouldn't let this affect you if you're not that religious, and if you are, just label them as unethical. That's all one can do anyway, there isn't any law stating that unethical gambling should be followed by an arrest after all.

What do you mean (although depending on the type of church, not all are prohibited from doing so)?
All religions prohibit bad actions including gambling and no religion allows its adherents to gamble.
I don't know why and what's wrong with gambling so that all religions forbid it, I don't know, but what is clear is that gambling is not a recommended activity.
If possible, a person must avoid gambling so that his life will be better, not a few people experience economic difficulties because of gambling addiction.
The priest could be happy now because he made a lot of money from gambling but when the money runs out he will find it difficult.

Well, no surprises at all because like you said, pastors are also humans and they aren't Gods who aren't doing anything wrong. They're humans as well that also making mistakes so TBH, I didn't surprised at all. What I'm surprised with is the fact that he confessed, and didn't lie at all. I mean for a pastor to go gamble and luckily won, he might lie unto it, but he confessed and really said it to public which is a good thing.

I've also seen news here in our country regarding a priest having an affair with a teen that is on their singing choir, but eventually got arrested. I also saw a priest here in our place making fights with an opposite party because of elections.

I agree, even pastors have a wife because there's a belief that they are not allowed to have a intimate relationship with their opposite sex, same with the nun. It's like playing outside even your parents said that you're not allowed to. But I expected that if he really devoted himself as a pastor maybe he'll donate some of his winning to charity. Of course we people have a side where we'd like to feel the enjoyment and excitement to our life so maybe he choose this side. But shutting down the ministry makes me think that he doesn't even want to be a pastor that shutting it down is unnecessary or maybe he'll be doing gambling and no ones gonna look for the ministry.

Good for the pastor, no need to judge him for quitting his job. He is a normal person like all of us and should be able to choose freely what to do with his time. I am not really a religious person, so I am too familiar with how the church stands towards gambling. What I do know is that the Christian Community has different branches and some are more strict than others. Maybe there are some priests who are more open towards gambling. My grand parents were very religious people, going to church every Sunday morning and still used my grand father to play the lottery for more than 30 years. To me it seems that the church is fine with us gambling, as long as it's in a responsible way and doesn't bring us on a bad way in life.

I think all religion not allowed about gambling, but what happen with pastor and OP problem in their country with winning 100 million dollar and leave with their activities as pastor seems terrible. I sure first time he has been pastor get planning earn much money and used for gambling. You should ask about where is money come from and use by pastor for gambling, I sure his job take advantage earn much money from their member and use it for gambling.

But I don't know detail about pastor job because difference with my religion and how much money income every weeks or every month from their member, will use for the right place or OP pastor country use it for betting.

I think those who play for the money or profits are the ones who are prone to addictions and not those who only play to get entertained because they can only play small amount and they can even play without depositing real money. Some jobs are not permanent. What's worse is the pay rate for these jobs are also small, and that is why many are eager to find other sources of income and one that they see is gambling.

Yes of course. They are still a human like us who also have other interests and addictions in life but it can also depend on their religion as some religion strictly prohibits gambling. I think that pastor is earning something on his ministry and he is now tired of working so by the time he won a huge amount, he decided to take a rest for while and enjoy his money. Well, that's his decision. There's nothing we can do about it.

Those are the priests and they're different from pastors.

For religious people, this is a sign that he'll be a false teacher because of how most beliefs say that it's not allowed for anyone to gamble when you're inside a religion. And he's not just a member but a pastor.

But in the end, we can think of wherever he is happy with his life and just want to live normally without much spiritual obligations and tasks so he chose the life he wants.

@OP, those people that are telling that one cannot live a good life with gambling. You're right, they could be the frustrated gamblers but most likely, they are the ones that don't really gamble at all.

I mean no disrespect to active gamblers but the truth is gambling is not sustainable and there is no guarantee of winning so relying on gambling for daily needs and as a career will be setting up yourself for disaster because you can't win over the house in a consistent manner.
Make no mistake, one can get lucky to win a lottery thereby changing the course of their life by diversifying their efforts but them also it takes sever discipline to be able to walk away with winning without being trick to risk it winning more thereby losing again.

But he won't because he has already closed his ministry to his congregation. Maybe he wants to enjoy the winnings and never be a priest again. According to him, maybe it is normal when someone can get a lot of money, regardless of money from gambling. But after all, he was a religious leader before, so that would stick with him forever unless there were people who didn't know him. And it seems he has moved places and is looking for a city where no one will recognize him anymore. And maybe he will still gamble to get another big win.

There's no turning back into those someone who had closed up his church and decided to leave out this path just because he had win something big and decided up to cherish these winnings which is really

that sad for someone who do make out such decision.In this case then you could really prove out that priest is really that something have those kind of intents since from the start.It is really just that sad

that he do leave out his followers for money which i wont be really surprised if ever there would be some another pretending priest to quit up this path just because they do want
to pursue on what those wishes and plans that they do have.

I'm an agnostic, so I don't see anything bad or strange in this situation. The clergy are just human beings as you or me so they sometimes gamble, buy luxury stuff, drive expensive cars (seduce little boys haha). Perhaps a religious person would think otherwise though. Just my 2c.

I think it is not an excuse for a priest or religious leaders to do immorality.  Because they are human they are free to commit such sins?  I do not think that is a valid reason, because before they go into priesthood, they have to denounce immorality and evil things.  Remember they are pursuing spirituality so they should disconnect themselves from worldly activity.  No one force them to be a priest, pastors or preachers, it is their own choice. 

The man on the topic is actually frauding his follower and he has been indulging himself in earthly pleasure.  He uses the donation money to supply his needs and wants probably even his vices.  I do not think that this guy will show his face on the community again if ever his money runs out.  He maybe putting another religious leader to some part of the country if his needs for funds arises.  So I think this guy should be sued of fraud and be jailed.

Definitely true, if we also look on the history, we can see that pastor/priest during that time was the powerful person in one country, some of them used it in a wrong way instead focusing on serving the ministry. I guess that pastor who gamble is also taking the advantage of having the means/money to use for gambling. That just shows that all of us are really sinners, cause even the pastor who we think are holy was not to.

I think some might disagree since they would argue that they can make a living out of gambling. But, I think, most of the people engaged in gambling had experience having majority of loss than win. So, I agree that it has really no guarantee that you could gain profit every time. This is not good when it would be the source of income for daily needs since it isn't stable enough to provide you your needs. Gambling is still a game of luck, so just be careful not to throw yourself into an unending cycle that might stuck you for no good.

We could say the pastor got lucky and not because, he professionalised gambling and in turn, met his fortuned through it. In fact, he had his profession in the ministry job or business in his case as I chose to understand it and when he got that huge win from his hubby, he had to abandon that which was more stressful for him go leaving a life that he feels is more suited for him.

The path of religion and gambling had been one on the distant past, given that, these are taxable events and even up this day but, it sort of met some rumble due to the fact that, gambling has been the bad behind some irresponsible gamblers frustration.
Also, it lead to certain individuals committing crimes and been prone to drugs. Your always advised to gamble responsibly and avoid addictions.

The pastor is just being reasonable when he shut down his church because he knows exactly that he cannot serve two masters at a time, regardless if he’s a real pastor or not. And he knows for sure that it’s unethical to see religious leaders addicted in gambling, so he decided to gamble instead than to continue deceiving the people around. Well, for me his action might be dishonorable, but we know its for the good. Than to keep on hiding his real identity and continue to commit heavy sin.

In fact, regardless of whether it's a religious leader or an ordinary citizen, people who have a lot of time or not as long as it's clear that gambling is possible can still happen. it's just that the difference in this case is when religious leaders who should know it is forbidden and they are saints actually they don't do that. But when talking about emotions and greed, of course they are also just ordinary humans who definitely have a desire for these things, so even though this is not very ethical, it is still possible for this to happen and that is probably one of the many who do this.

I do not know if there is any religion which would condone gambling but as far as I know, they all are against gambling one way or another. Gambling is also punished more or less severely, depending on the person's religion. So any religious leader who gambles or condones gambling is probably not a real religious leader but rather a cultist or, more likely, a scam artist.

Obviously there needs to be more investigations into such people but in countries which are poor and corrupt, there is little to no chance of such an investigation being launched against them. Hence, they continue scamming until they scam the wrong people and then the people take justice into their own hands...

Gambling is fine in some churches so long as the proceeds are towards a good cause, so all profits are likely the church or charity.   Thats not a rare thing, usually its more done for fun then any idea of winning big but I suppose 4 figure prizes might be a thing in some places.
  Gambling by itself is ok its only the excess that is where it can be a problem.   Uganda is not especially a free democratic country, we cannot say his plan for carrying on his good works but anyone can gamble so long as they only risk what they lawfully earnt we are free to spend in that respect.

Gambling is not liked in majority of countries and regions and it is also considered illegal in many countries  so if a religious leader is gambling that means he is not observing and acting upon his own teachings .
Gambling can cause low self-esteem, stress, anxiety and depression if gambling becomes a problem. Gambling can become an addiction, just like drugs or alcohol, if you use it compulsively or feel out of control. Gambling can affect the part of our brain that releases dopamine.

The point is that religious leaders are human too. Like others they also need money and want to do whatever they want but financial constraints do not allow them to realize those dreams. Because they are in a respected position in the society, they may not expose their gambling activities to the front. But they also have greed and emotion that we cannot ignore. No one has anything to say if someone is gambling secretly.

I am also a Christian but our church strictly prohibits all forms of gambling because the reason is that people who become gambling addicts will only commit crimes to gamble and not everyone is able to control it

however, if the church in Uganda makes sense of what the priest is doing then they really go too far, and the domino effect that will occur will truly be unstoppable, many other priests will become gamblers and close their churches

I comprehend the Church's position on wagering, but surely that needn't bar folks from relishing a harmless contest or two. Undoubtedly, gambling addiction is grave, but not all who venture down this path will spiral into lawlessness. Moderation and self-discipline are the keys, my friend.

As for the Uganda episode, let's not be hasty. Though the priest's promotion of gambling raises eyebrows, we're not privy to the entire narrative. He could be funneling proceeds to philanthropy, or perhaps there's another angle. Let's remain open-minded and amass the evidence before passing judgment.

Its just that not bad on having that need of money since this had been our primary concern on thriving out to attain or making some income which it is really that normal if ever we do have that kind of approach

when it comes on earning money specially on the time that we do able to encounter huge sums then reactions could really vary or differ into each other person which we know that there might be some who do

make out some impulsive decisions like this one.Yes, we are just human beings but making out actions is something that sensible and  relevant.If  you do tolerate out your greed
towards money then you wouldnt really be giving out any importance and being mindful in regarding with other people.

Wether religious or not, the vocal point should be that anyone engaging in gambling should make sure to gamble responsibly because it is the abuse of it that have landed many persons to ruin therefore making the activity look devilish that makes some religions to vehemently preach preach against the involvement of it by it's religious believers. We can't say gambling hasn't made so many persons around the world rich just because it didn't make you or someone next to you reach perhaps you ain't lucky enough to get rich through it.
 But that being said, I wouldn't wanna use this as an excuse to solely depend on gambling as a source of wealth or income to me cause the activity is predominantly dependent on lucky before strategy, as there are great strategists that haven't made a fortune in gambling throughout their gambling history but a new fellow can jump in today and hit a fortune by way of luck. And am sure no sane person would wanna hang his future on luck!

It's maybe a bit sad and rude to say, but at the same time I believe that anyone can learn as much as they desire. Intelligence and education play a major factor in whether someone can or will be a successful gambler in the long run. There are also many other factors, like whether they are able to learn and practice their skills in a relatively stable, potentially low pressure environment. Another starting point is that they must have a lot of patience and a keen interest in learning how to master one of the few avenues of successful gambling - like poker for example. There are many different techniques that they may choose to master, but it requires constant learning because there are always hunters out there seeking to capitalize on your smallest mistakes.

It's obvious the pastor was running the church  because he was probably out of business ideas, out of income and needed something to do or was looking for a means to extort from people around him.

For a supposed man of God to abandon his call and focus on money??
God help us..

All if not the majority of Christian churches don't allow gambling, it's a sin for all of that types of churches.

It's an act that can't be removed too quick and that's why people go to churches for them to remove vices like this. But if the pastor is the one that has it, how can those members hope to remove that vice of them if the one that teaches them also has it? It's a sad situation for those members that have been left by him but also, it's better to be seen that situation too early before it's too late.

Even if we say gambling for religious leaders is unethical, but it does not mean that they cannot gamble at all. At the end of the day, it’s always their choice to gamble or not. However, based on the Pastor’s story, he decided to gamble and when he won huge amount, he shut down his ministry which for me is reasonable too since he’s not a real pastor in profession. He only did that to survive and use the money to raise his family.

Yes, he did the right thing than carrying the pastor attire. He's a common man who used the pastoral service as a profession and had better life than many other people of the particular locality, because people used to support the pastors even at their inability. There is nothing as pastors can't gamble, they preach and the same doesn't mean they should follow. There is a common slogan in my region believe in the preaching and not the preacher.

You are primarily discussing Christianity and the Church in this topic as this religion is divided into various parts some of which see and consiider gambling as a sin while others simply dislike it. Although I am not religious and do not support any specific part it is unfair to attribute the actions of a few individuals to an entire religion. What these pastors did was not related to gambling, but rather their preference for money over their beliefs if they actually did in first place so they were not true representatives of their religion since they did not follow its rules in the first place. Similarly, this pastor who has been accused of rape (https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/ugandan-pastor-accused-of-raping-latvian-woman-arrested/2790069) does not represent his religion, as he violated its principles.

Source (https://www.bibleinfo.com/en/questions/does-bible-mention-anything-about-gambling)

While in Islam I am well aware that gambling is strictly forbidden and it is considered a major sin to engage in it ,The Quran clearly states that gambling is an act of the devil that can lead to addiction and waste of wealth. While some religions may forbid gambling while others may permit it, after all everyone is responsible for their actions.

These people who claimed or live proof that gambling can make a living don't have any obligations to tell us if it's really true or not that they rely on their gambling skills to support their living. I mean, just mind our own business regardless of everything.

We don't even need to know if these people really can keep up with their gambling career to the point that they can consider it now as a primary source of income.


Some religious leaders don't need to gamble literally just to gain more funds.

Establishing a religious group is quite profitable in most countries due to its influence.

Similarly, any celebrity should be very careful on what they do as their image can quickly spread in social media. This means that people somehow idolize these celebrities to the point that they become role models for other people as well. Same with pastors, lots of religious people look up to them and view them as image on where the people should follow.

If you hear a pastor that gambles on a frequent basis, it somehow destroys the image on how he shaped himself. It also destroys the very purpose on why he devoted his entire life for this kind of service since people would more or less avoid following him.

Money makes a person's beliefs change every time in second, we can't argue this fact and his deceit. Maybe he builds the church just open collect donator funds and use it as capital for gambling because we don't know the depths of the pastor's heart. If I were people who live in that local residents, I will call the money auditors agency to audit all the Pastor's Money, because he might violate the rules like misappropriation of public funds.

What are you serious mate that you have gambling strategies? And those works? I mean then why there are poor people in the world? All should use those strategies and would become rich overnight. I mean these strategies are just useless. Not a single strategy works the second time. Gambling is basically pure luck and 1% Maths. If you want to survive completely on the basis of gambling, then I am afraid that it will he hard for you. Gambling can only be done to earn extra income. Yes there are some rich brats who used gambling as a source of recreation and do high bets, don’t fall for them, and gamble in limits.

I certainly agree with that, but still there're people who will change their belief once money is presented on the table just like the OPs example of a pastor winning millions of money. I agree that being on that profession can be profitable but there will always be people who are greedy that still wants more. It is immoral that he shuts down the temple discriminately but maybe he is planning to start a new career using his own money from gambling.

I'm no longer shock what people will do for the sake of money, there're even worse that would commit atrocious crimes just to get their hands on money. This isn't also my first time hearing and seeing religious figures who are obsessed with money.

Pastors are also human beings who can be tempted by worldly life.
When there is greed or the desire to get money, a person will try it and use all means to be able to have money to get what he wants.
So it was very difficult to hold back their passion when he saw an opportunity to do something bad, even though he was a priest.
And now, people don't know where the pastor went with his winnings while the pastor was enjoying his winnings.

This was a pastor only for money as we saw from his story,he did not care much about his believers and he just followed his greed and desire for money.People don't know where he went but most probably he will be back as once a gambler always a gambler and as soon as he will lose the money no matter how much that money is,people will see him back with new ways of deceiving people,most likely telling them a story how God called him aside to make him a better person or something along these lines.He is now on the path of destruction and it will take just a short amount of time until we see what God has really done with him.

I grew up in Muslim community in secular but Muslim country, Türkiye. Here gambling is seen strictly immoral or haram (in Islamic culture). By the way regular physical casinos are illegal here BUT sports betting is totally legal. And funny, many young people, even ones that define themselves Muslim love to do sports betting. Its very very popular. I think all kinds of people even religious leaders can see fun in gambling but I think its probably unethical for them to gamble/bet. I am not religious person so personally I don't find it disturbing to see imam gambling.

I don't think it's safe to general this idea that money can change the mindsets of everyone.
If they have been traces of deceit in a person's heart that's when money will take effect, and what money does is to elevate all the deceitful act and then shows what the true color of the person is.
And in the case of the pastor in Op, it's quite obvious that he never had good intentions for his congregation so all his goal was to embezzle all the money that comes into the church and use for his personal use.

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We really don't know the motives of the pastor, if the church and his beliefs are real or just for donation sake because he wants to gamble it, but looking at it from our perspective, he closes the church after winning it, so the dark side of it really is the purpose. People will really change their minds when it comes to huge money, and for sure he is already living out of his life right now and very happy.

I am very quite disappointed because it will tarnish the public's trust in any religious leaders regarding this matter, because on an ethical basis a religious leader is a role model for his followers, and I am quite sure that no religion allows gambling even to make a living by relying on luck. In my opinion, this is quite immoral, even though basically a religious leader is also human like an ordinary human being who likes to make mistakes, but I can't justify it because he talks almost every day sharing love and kindness with the people he meets and even worse he stops being a religious leader is for the sake of making more money by gambling, I think working in other fields besides trying your luck on the gambling board can be tolerated.

I read that most churches in Africa are business so It was no surprised when I read here that the pastor closed them his church for wining 100 million shillings. Most pastors are deceiving there members, they preach one thing and does the other. They preach against gambling yet they're one of the biggest gamblers just as this story is exposing.

This won't be the pastors first bet which means he has been betting all this while they preach against it. I'm not against gambling and I don't think it's evil but then it shouldn't be abuse as when you abuse it it becomes evil. The bible says it itself that too much of everything isn't good so is gambling.

The problem is that when something like this is exposed to the outside world, not all but it is clear that the person concerned will be tarnished because it will be considered as damaging the image of a saint.
Even though I don't really deserve to say that, there will be a different stigma when someone who has a high position in religion does something like this and an ordinary person does it.
Ordinary people who do this seem understandable, but when religious leaders do the same thing, it will clearly be different in interpretation, even though they are also ordinary people who have passions and emotions.

No priests or church administrators have the sole motive of obtaining donations for gambling or even enriching themselves.
So far I have never seen a pastor or church administrator who has more wealth and as long as you know they have income that is given by their followers to be able to fulfill their lives.
Initially the priest must have had noble goals and wanted to serve as a priest or religious leader, but because of the opportunity to be able to get rich, he forgot about his noble goals and promises as a priest, so he dared to make bets just to get rich.
No one can stand still when faced with the opportunity to become rich.
There are many examples of people out there who are blinded by money and this is human nature.

Even though in Islam, gambling is prohibited, when there is a word for this prohibition, everyone should be able to understand. But we are only humans who cannot escape any temptation, including the temptation to play gambling. And once we can feel the fun of gambling, we will do it repeatedly even if we have to lose, and that's okay too. And indeed, gambling has succeeded in getting many people to share in the fun so that whatever their status in society, they can forget about it because there is a goal to get a lot of money from gambling.

Yes, what @Joddy.Drummer said is the impact of what religious leaders did by playing gambling, and I agree with that, the stigma that circulates is negative thinking towards religious leaders, because basically religious leaders are average people who are wise and can solving problems peacefully and guiding people to the right path, I personally have never heard until today that religious leaders justify gambling. Apart from that he is also a human being, religious leaders should have more understanding about behavior and actions.

Sorry, maybe I feel quite disappointed because maybe I have faith in what religious leaders teach and I always follow what they do in social and business according to what they prohibit and allow, I am very disappointed about this.

Asking a question like  ' Do religious leaders gamble?' will want to make us stand as judge and could lead to quick condemnation of another sake of the level of spiritual preference the have. In my own opinion religion and way of life has two opposite route. People could be religions and still stick to their passion. The idea is to be disciplined in whatever we do be it a religious leader or a religious follower. A religious person irrespective of status can go about their gambling activities provided they can be disciplined.

I believe why most religious group preach against gambling is because the fear it could become addictive and cause a problem to their doctrine, teachings and what the uphold at the same time integrity of the gambler. Some do it out of ignorance maybe because it is a norm for other religion to kick against it so some other random religion might want to join suit. For me passion shouldn't interfere with religion has long as  it can be managed and controlled.

What are the correlation between being a clergy and a gambler, they are two different things, possibly he has been gambling with the church money over time unknowingly to members, being a clergy, you must not be seen gambling even though you were once a gambler, once you have accepted this call of faith to be a clergy them the conditions attached is to stay away from some common lifestyle and you will get restricted to them, part of which is gambling, just as you can't see a king in the casino house gambling so it is except of them being a clergy.

There are numerous religions, each with its own set of characteristics. The same is true of their attitude toward gambling. The decision of the pastor to close his own religious ministry may not be the career he wants to pursue if money is not a concern. After winning a handful of cash, the pastor can now live the life he wants. My personal opinion is that gambling within certain limits is not unethical or immoral. If this is not the case, then I find individuals that smoke cigarettes in crowded public areas to be more immoral and unethical because they are disseminating the harmful smoke.

If he was an ordinary man, he could live the life he wants after the winning, I totally agree with this. But he was a pastor. He was living from other people's money before he won, probably telling them that gambling is a sin and other hypocritical stuff. I think what he should have done was giving away all the money to his parishioners, and only then leaving, if he wanted to leave the church. Since he just left, it makes him someone who walked away without paying his creditors, in my eyes.

The religious leader was brave enough to reveal the reason why he closed his ministry because it meant he was not ashamed of what he was doing, even though it is not a rule, but almost all of us know that in many religions gambling is always identified with something bad and forbidden, so when a religious leader does it, it is certain he was going to do it in secret because he didn't want to damage his reputation as a religious leader, but the priest gave his reasons openly.
A religious leader should not do gambling because maybe his time will run out for this activity and if he doesn't control himself he will get stuck in addiction and endanger his ministry so that his congregation will be shaken by the fact that their religious leader is not a good example to emulate, but did this story really happen? I mean if it is true maybe the congregation can investigate whether the religious leader used personal money or ministry money, which could be categorized as misappropriation because I'm doubted that this was the first time he gambled and immediately produced a big win

The issue is that religion is not decisive or absolute for those who practice it or claim to be followers of any religion. The commandments in any religion are there, they are a guide to follow, but...! well says a saying; "we see faces but not hearts".

That is to say, individuals fail and being a pastor does not give them immunity to commit "sins", he would say that if he were to bet that someone is a good pastor, the probability for this to happen would be 50%.

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^{This is a "strange" topic for gambling, I think it's a discussion from another board.}

Gambling will not give you money immediately and but definitely.My Suggestion is don’t see the gambling as life source,instead you can do the gambling to get away from your stress.So you can away from stress from the gambling by playing liked game for certain period of time.Instead you can use the trading and special on day trading.Most of the day traders do the trading with little amount as profit.They continue the process till the desired profit reaches for the week.

Gambling was the more fun based game because of usually using the real money.The excitement based on the real money will not be satisfied by anything in the world.This is the main reason of people involved in the cock betting on the road site.Even you can get the excitement in the trading as compared to the gambling.Gambling excitement is far better then the excitement we get from the trading profit of crypto currency.

But indeed on the other hand we also cannot completely blame the religious leaders here, because of course these are only a small part of them and can be said to be individuals who smear but religion is not wrong about that.
This was his will and he has now quit his religion so it is between him and his god. We also cannot fully judge because we are also not saints, although it is very regrettable that something like this happens.

In today's world, many people are stressed every day, but that doesn't mean it's the norm. I don't know if this is true or not, but I have heard that in the United States a huge number of people use antidepressants and other drugs that allow them to live without stress. But I don't think gambling can relieve stress.

In life we all have choices regardless of your culture or religion. I dont see gambling as a sin. It only becomes a sin when you don't gamble responsibly.
Yes, religious leaders gamble most often. Gambling does not stop them from preaching the gospel. Some gamble secretly while some gamble openly.

I dont think is a good idea for religious leaders to gamble because it does not show a good example to the young once.

It is immoral for religious leaders to gamble as it show bad examples to the followers.

Each religion indeed has a different interpretation for every aspect of our lives, of which when it comes to Christianity and most especially the position of a "pastorship", those set of people are always given the most regard, and as such acts as a role model to a multitude of congregations.
So for me, I stand to say that if truly that Ugandan man was a real pastor truly called by God, winning such a huge sum of money was an avenue for him to expand his ministry to most nooks and crannies of his city. But since he was a fake man of God that's why when money got involved, he unveiled his true colour by shutting down his ministry.

Note: The power of gambling

First of, I know your first statement is opinionated, but it's just funny how you portrayed gambling as this "life-changer" it's a life-changer all right, for the worse that is.

As for your questions:
1. Do Church Leaders (priests, etc.) gamble?: I think so. But I couldn't confirm, there's a good amount of them that definitely succumb to these worldly pleasures either for the entertainment or the promise of greater money, if it's the latter then they're shit out of luck.
2.  Is it right for religious leaders to gamble?: I don't think so, especially if they took vow of abstinence and celibacies as part of their priesthood, but if they were gonna gamble anyway, the question of whether it is righteous to gamble or not is just going to fly over their heads.
3. What are the ethical and moral implications of gambling??: Not going to be the right person to ask about it, as some people have pointed out, since that just makes us judges of the people who're supposed to judge us which is a little weird and counterintuitive, in any case, I think they can absolve themselves of the "crimes" they committed, or if they couldn't worse that could happen to them is to have them stripped of their priesthood and the benefits that entails being a priest. As for the ethical implications of this, we all know well that gambling isn't something that came from a noble background, the very fact that we're discussing whether it's good or not to gamble sets that point in stone already. So you're basically just asking us questions you know the answers for already. But hey, I don't discriminate.

although I am not a member of a devout congregation, I really hate religious leaders who are hypocrites, they forbid their people not to gamble - whore - steal - commit fraud but behind the scenes, many of them still do that. religious leaders are the people most often inspired by the followers of that religion, if they do bad things then the mentality and morals of their followers will be damaged and they could turn into atheists.

Yes and the pastor know this already, that is why he came up with his own ministry first. He get money there to be able to bet and he luckily win huge after many attempts. Gambling is a form of entertainment to cure away our stress but what if our problem is money? I don't think playing a gambling can solve it but it will only make our stress more intense.

Trading is better than in gambling in terms of earning a profit but I don't advice newbies to trade immediately. They must learn it first and then practice. They also need to find a reliable source of income because trading is a high risk activity close to gambling. It may or may not provide us a daily income that we need to live a normal life.

In my opinion gambling is only good as long as it is used only as a purpose of entertainment and safe as long as it does not become an addiction. So from this concept, gambling can never be the main way of living for people. However, I would never prefer that someone depend on gambling for their livelihood.And since gambling depends on luck, there is no need for hard work and without hard work people never see the face of success, and those who get it by luck do not take time to lose it.
I mainly do sports batting and it's just to feed my entertainment.  I don't want to describe it from a religious point of view because it is not viewed favorably by most religious people.

Gambling is never been bad and just like what been said that as long you dont make yourself get addicted to it then you should be fine but we know that engaging on it actively could really give out that kind of

habit which might mold on to be for you to be an addicted one, this is why we should really be careful and be wary with our actions whether we are slowly trying to be addicted or still in path just because you do

really like gambling that much as your past time.There's no way that we could be able to determine but only yourself on what you do view about your current gambling.
Decisions made outright are depending on someones ,if he do stop and quit up then its his choice basing up on the situation OP stated.