If I Were A Gambling Man

Before I get into the meat of this blog, I’m going to do a bit of “journaling” and also tell you a quick funny that happened at home recently.

First, the journaling. I’m typing this in an airplane flying from Phoenix to San Diego. It’s Saturday morning, October 13, 2007, and I’m on my way to WEFTEC which is a trade show for one of my magazines, Pollution Engineering. I’ll be visiting with Karen Gantzer and her daughter, Lauren, tonight and maybe son Graham. Husband Jerry and eldest son, Kyle, on in Cabo San Lucas on a vacation Kyle and his high school buddy won on Wheel Of Fortune – that’s right, the one with Pat and Vana! It was a blast to watch them win. Kyle went to Germany with me this year in June to attend Thermprocess another trade show for another magazine I publish, Industrial Heating. Kyle is a mature young man and we had a wonderful time. He was a big help at the trade show and I’m pretty sure he LOVED the experience and the food….especially the food. I’ve never seen someone take so many pictures of their food before consuming.

Anyhow, that’s where I am and what I’m doing.

Now, let me tell you a quick “funny.” We’re sitting around the dinner table preparing to eat and as we’re assembling, a couple of the kids are talking about rap music and Evelyn, our youngest, is trying her luck at making rapper noises. With both hands cupped over her mouth, she is wholeheartedly attempting to make the rapper beat ..(boom, batta, boom, batta, boom, batta, boom, etc.). You have to understand that Evelyn (Evy) goes 100% at whatever she does. She is relatively fearless. The most fearless of all our four. So there she is, hands cupped over month, grooving the beat when she comes to an abrupt halt, lowers her hands and say, “I’m basically just spitting all over my hands!”

That about captures the essence of rapping. Just spitting all over your own hands and everyone else’s brains (depending on what your rapping at the time!).

So let’s move on to the topic of the day.

I have not often faced black and white moral decision in my profession. I’m sure everyday I face gray areas and hopefully I come down in the correct shade of gray, right where Jesus would want me to be. The Christian life is not black and white. The 10 Commandments seem black and white, but their application is not. Modern day Christians that oversimplify life into black and white are often “moralist” and are frequently “non-thinking” Christians who just want to say “that’s wrong” and not use their heads to really consider the situation.

Fortunately, I’ve not had too many situations where I’ve had to make moral decisions that could potentially effect the “progress” of my career. If you’re like me, you’ve probably wondered more than once what you would do if presented with a moral dilemma. “Will I make the right decision?” “Will I choose to sacrifice advancement and do the right thing?” “Would I rather be fired than agree to do such and such?”

We’ll this week, in a small, but significant way, I got to live my faith.

Here’s the background.

First, over the past 5-6 years, I’ve been one of perhaps 2-3 people in my company to publish Chinese-language editions of my magazines. Moreover, I am the only one in my company to develop a profitable relationship with a Chinese partner in Beijing. This partner, Arlen LUO, started publishing four issues of Industrial Heating, and this year (2007) is publishing Chinese editions for roughly 10 BNP Media magazines all of them based on the agreements I’ve worked out with him. The volume and success of these international editions has grown enough over the past five years that our company owners are now talking with me about formalizing and growing our Chinese relationship and also looking at other countries like India where I’ve also dabbled over the past couple of years.

Several weeks ago, I had a phone conversation with Tagg Henderson, a co-CEO of BNP Media and the CEO in charge of publishing. Tagg asked that I put together a proposal to grow our international markets. With the help of John Schrei, my immediate boss, I put together a proposal.

Now the curve ball.

Roughly one month before I spoke with Tagg, BNP Media purchased 17 new magazines from Ascend Media. The Stagnito Professional Services Division of Ascend Media included a number of magazine in the food and packaging industry and a couple of gaming books. My immediate boss at that time was Dave Lurie. Dave was promoted to division director over 15 of the new magazines plus 5 we already owned. All of my pubs were removed from Dave’s oversight. This was a sad day since I worked with Dave for over 13 years. It was a smart move on Tagg’s part, but a bitter-sweet parting for me.

Anyhow, still not problem…yet.

Upon reviewing the first draft of my international proposal with John Schrei at the Gear Expo in Detroit just a week ago (early ctober), John mentioned that “gaming is a huge industry in China” and how he was looking forward to growing gaming revenue in China.

RED FLAGS went up.

Several weeks earlier, when I found out that BNP had purchased gaming magazines, I told Mary that if they ever asked me to do anything to directly benefit those books, I would have to politely decline. No more than two weeks later, I am faced with that decision and the decision could substantially alter my plans to develop international markets and put a stop to that advancement track and potential more pay.

Thank God (literally), there wasn’t much hesitation in my mind. Although I didn’t tell John right away that I would have trouble doing anything that would benefit the gaming books (for which he is responsible), I did have the opportunity to do so before the day was out. He graciously understood and did not (at least outwardly) look at me as an outdated prude.

So he and decided to present the proposal and he encourage me to put into the proposal my thoughts about the gaming books. I did. I essentially told Tagg that I would rather forfeit the entire international project than do anything that today or in the future would accrue to the benefit of the gaming books. I would want the gaming books explicitly excluded from using any of the agreements I’d work on. As a business owner, I would not accept such a condition. We’ll see what Tagg does.

My preference is that BNP sell the gaming books. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most compelling is the inevitable shady deals and corruption that are associated with that industry are sure to find their way to BNP and potentially put the entire business at risk. Sell now. Also, God is not going to bless any business or individual that operates in opposition to his law.

So there is my moral dilemma. Thank God, I answered correctly (I think).

So why is gambling wrong?

Biblical Reasons

There are several reasons from the Bible and of course the Biblical reasons are the most important and would be enough by themselves.

1. Gambling can easily become “the love of money” which is condemned in I Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all sort of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many a pang.”
2. The book of Proverbs tells us not to seek quick and unearned gain.
3. Gamblers are typically not content with their current income and a hoping to hit it big. This is unbiblical. Hebrews 13:5, “Let your character be free from the love of money being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
4. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord and he will give you the desire of your heart; commit your way to the Lord and He will do it.” Gamblers are typically trusting something other than God to give them the desires of their heart.

Economic Reasons

1. Gambling is not productive. Nothing is added to the economy -- only money changing hands. No wealth created. For this reason, the gambling/lottery set is a reallocation of wealth, not an increase in wealth. From an economic standpoint, we ought to encourage wealth-producing activities.
2. Gambling harms the lower income level people most. It is a demonstrable fact that gambling takes its greatest toll on low income people. Governments and gambling establishments are for this reason preying on the disadvantaged and poor. Not only does this encourage more poverty (bad economics), but it is also the Biblical equivalent of harming the widow, orphan, and poor.