Prayer and gambling.

[Rruchi man]

Often times in my country, i have visited a sports betting shop to place my bet, and each time before I am about to do so, i always look out to the other service booths where bettings are received for other other individuals placing their bets as well.

Each time, i notice that out of the five service booths in this sports betting shop, it is common to see two or sometimes three individuals out of the five occupying the service booths always bow their head and mutter some words solemnly, a prayer i suppose.

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

If you believe it does work, examine this scenerio.
If we both worship and serve same god, and we place our bets on the same games, in a manner that our bets are opposites, and we both say a solemn prayer to this our god before casting our bets, Who will this god favour?

[uneng]

The reason why one person is going to win instead of his adversary is commonly explained as luck, but behind the luck factor there may be God acting through his spiritual laws. We as human beings aren't able to understand how these laws work exactly and I believe it's really supposed to not be possible to understand them. It's part of the mistery of the life and the universe, which humanity lacks answers for (even the atheists).
As we can see it's not possible to say why God favours one or another person in determined situations through our limited vision. But I believe God isn't against any human being and no one is abandoned by him. If the person loses a bet today, but lives a decent life, far from addictions and traps of the evil, this individual will be rewarded by God somehow (not necessarily winning the jackpot, anyway).

[Fatunad]

Often times in my country, i have visited a sports betting shop to place my bet, and each time before I am about to do so, i always look out to the other service booths where bettings are received for other other individuals placing their bets as well.

Each time, i notice that out of the five service booths in this sports betting shop, it is common to see two or sometimes three individuals out of the five occupying the service booths always bow their head and mutter some words solemnly, a prayer i suppose.

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

If you believe it does work, examine this scenerio.
If we both worship and serve same god, and we place our bets on the same games, in a manner that our bets are opposites, and we both say a solemn prayer to this our god before casting our bets, Who will this god favour?

Prayer or any spiritual take wouldn't work in gambling and its just a bit common or normal on having this kind of behavior on most gamblers on where they do rely with divine power regarding into their bets which I don't seen any sense for someone to do so because Gods has nothing to do with our gambling habits and engagement. Odds would always vary on chances and no external factors could really affect on someones winning rate and this is why it isn't really that relevant nor
never been effective but since people do have this kind of behavior then let it be and let them do those things that they do believe.

[just_Alice]

It really depends on what you believe in. Obviously, statistically speaking and from a strictly scientific point of view, every person has the exact same chance at winning and losing, regardless of what they believe. The thing with spiritual people is that everything happens to them just as it would have happened to someone else, but they see the hidden signs and whenever they get lucky they think that prayers helped them. Whenever they're unlucky they just ignore that.

On the other note, some religions prohibit gambling, so praying on the win might not be the best idea. Also, though I'm not really an expert, but I think that according to religious beliefs prayers are meant for something important, like the health and life of your family, and so on. So I think such actions might be taken as blasphemy because the only thing gambling can bring us is money, and there are much more important things than money in life.

[Zilon]

Betting comes with luck so therefore it's not a ground to justify that religious activity has a lot to do with gambling. It's just a game of luck and chance if one finds luck from his/her prediction then such individual gets rewarded anything outside this just doesn't match up. Most cases gamblers pray and end up loosing out, so for me it doesn't really matter much. Ones you get lucky enough your prediction pays off anything outside that keeps the fun going. it's not necessarily compulsory that a gambler must win from his prediction most times we just play for the fun.

[dunfida]

We do have different beliefs and different perception in different things in life and this is why some people are really praying up in regards for their bets to win but i do agree on whats said above that no prayer could really be effective in terms of gambling. Prayer has nothing to do with it because you are the ones making your own fate when it comes to your bets.

Some do pray and some do just simply put up their bets and just leave and wait for the result. In regards with prayer or something it doesnt really raise up the chance of winning so i can say that there no point on doing this.

[Slow death]

you can't put god in games of chance, doing this kind of thing won't make the person lucky, on the contrary, it will lead the person to become addicted and with serious psychological problems. If there's something I've seen many times, it's just that things like games will always depend on each person's ability and luck, they won't depend on religion. there are people who spend money in churches thinking that they will be very lucky, this is a serious mistake.

[janggernaut]

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

From me, it's not. Gambling result will not affect what we pray. If we won, it's because our luck only. It's just supersitition when people believe they won in gambling because they have prayed before. I never do that, as i think gambling is gambling, when our luck comes, we will win.

[Kemarit]

Nah, gambling is base on luck and I don't think that spiritual being is involved or can change the result in our favor. But gamblers are very superstitious, again, each and everyone has it's own belief.

So if they thought that someone can higher can guide them, so let them be. I have friends who prays before placing their bet as well, so I just respect them, simply as that, but it won't have any effect on the outcome though.

[Alisha-k]

This post keeps different thoughts flying through my head how about consulting a harbalist or a witch doctor before going to gamble although I know a few people would do that but does it really work. Some people say it does but I strongly believe it could be coincidence and a factor of luck and chance not necessarily having any religious attachment to it.

[TimeTeller]

Nah, gambling is base on luck and I don't think that spiritual being is involved or can change the result in our favor. But gamblers are very superstitious, again, each and everyone has it's own belief.

So if they thought that someone can higher can guide them, so let them be. I have friends who prays before placing their bet as well, so I just respect them, simply as that, but it won't have any effect on the outcome though.

Just respect everyone's beliefs, I guess.
But I believe, there's no such thing or spiritual being that is influencing the results.
It is really based on luck however, people are free to follow what they believe in.
We all have different upbringing in terms or religion or culture, so those will be the factors why people believe on something.

[Saint-loup]

Often times in my country, i have visited a sports betting shop to place my bet, and each time before I am about to do so, i always look out to the other service booths where bettings are received for other other individuals placing their bets as well.

Each time, i notice that out of the five service booths in this sports betting shop, it is common to see two or sometimes three individuals out of the five occupying the service booths always bow their head and mutter some words solemnly, a prayer i suppose.

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

If you believe it does work, examine this scenerio.
If we both worship and serve same god, and we place our bets on the same games, in a manner that our bets are opposites, and we both say a solemn prayer to this our god before casting our bets, Who will this god favour?

Yes you're right people don't think about that when they pray or when they use some good-luck charms. How it will work if other people pray or use a lucky charm on the other team or outcome. Will the team/player or outcome with the bigger number of prayers win? Or it's not a matter of number but a matter of power? Then how do you know which prayer and good-luck charm is better than others?  

[romero121]

Earlier we had a thread for the discussion on superstitious beliefs on gambling. This means while doing gambling the users have specific things to do. Some used to wear specific color dress, some used to gamble sitting at a specific location. This way we can see different people into gambling with varied beliefs. Same as that is the prayer, one who believe just pray before placing bets. Whether the bet wins or losses is the secondary thing.

[xSkylarx]

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

I think some of us did this in desperate times, this made me remembered something and still feel a little guilty because I am agnostic and yet I prayed to something I deny to believe because I was looking for signs if he was there to help me during struggling times. My prayer worked that time but I know myself that God didn't all do the work that time for me to win, I know that luck was still involved that if I continued playing I would just end up with an empty pocket. He somehow helped me that time to overcome my greediness to continue gambling.

[TravelMug]

Have you ever prayed before placing a bet (gambling)?
Did it work?

I think some of us did this in desperate times, this made me remembered something and still feel a little guilty because I am agnostic and yet I prayed to something I deny to believe because I was looking for signs if he was there to help me during struggling times. My prayer worked that time but I know myself that God didn't all do the work that time for me to win, I know that luck was still involved that if I continued playing I would just end up with an empty pocket. He somehow helped me that time to overcome my greediness to continue gambling.

I would say that it's human nature though, we need to cling onto something that will change our luck and some of us calls on higher spiritual being for intervention and bring us "good luck".

So I guess everyone has this kind of mindset, I even see this so called "Gamblers players", to bring good fortune, but if they think it will help them so I can't disagree with them. We have our own beliefs here.

[Dave1]

On the contrary, if we think that prayers is powerful, then why not pray and help us from stopping gambling?

For some society, this could be a taboo, most of gambling vices as a far as I know is forbidden by some religion. Personally, I don't do it, I'm a Christian and I don't pray or call for divine intervention to bring me winnings. I don't think it will help, to be honest. "to each his own".

[FinneysTrueVision]

This is nothing more than superstition. If praying was all it took to succeed in gambling then we'd all be rich. I don't have any specific rituals I do before gambling and I think I have better results than the average person but I am also not as successful as people who have made a fortune. It is really just a mix of luck, risk, and sometimes skill that will determine how successful you will be.

[acroman08]

Big questions - Do spiritual beings get involved or influence gambling results in the favour of those who pray to them?

As a non-religious person No. if spiritual beings influence the gambling results in favor to those who pray to them there would be more people winning. in the end, people saying that it was a god-given gift that they won a big amount in gambling is just a belief and nothing more(at least for me).

[Fundamentals Of]

I have actually done this. Of course this is not actually praying to my god. This has nothing to do with my religious god. I know that my god does not intervene in very mundane stuff such as this. When I do this I am just trying to whisper to luck or to whatever powerful element out there to be on my favor. That is all actually. I know this doesn't make much sense but it is all for the good vibes. It is just like saying, "luck, please be with me today."

[Wexnident]

No, it doesn't work. Prayers are just some sort of method to actually pacify your inner self so that you would actually believe something would end up to be worthwhile, or something would result from whatever actions you would do. It's a method to calm the self, and possibly raise confidence and whatnot, but it's purely mental. It doesn't affect real-world statistics, probabilities, chances, luck, etc at all. It's almost close to a stupid idea of connecting something both you can't control, just so that you have a justifiable reason to blame or to thank for (but mostly to blame ngl).