Halachot and Customs
Playing Dice
Halacha on Gambling and Dice Games
Question
Hello, my name is Tomer. I am 18, and until now I have been filling out Winner. Winner is when you fill out a form with money on sports games, meaning gambling. Now I understood that there is a prohibition against gambling, “one may not play dice,” and the punishment for it is severe. I wanted to clarify a few things.
1. The sums I gamble with in Winner are very small sums (10, 20 shekels).
2. I gamble in a controlled manner, meaning I do not go overboard.
3. I have won a few times and play with the money I earned so that there will not be a financial loss to the money that was mine in the first place.
4. After my winnings, I separate a tithe from the amount of the winnings for the needy or for those who need it, such as yeshivas. Therefore I wanted to ask whether, in the way I described, there is still an absolute prohibition, or whether in this way it is possible to continue in a controlled manner? I would appreciate a quick answer, and thank you in advance. You are doing sacred work.
Answer
To the questioner,
There are three points here that need clarification:
1) Your reasoning that you do everything in a controlled manner, and even the money that comes in you tithe;
2) What the practical halacha is for Sephardim;
3) What the practical halacha is for Ashkenazim.
As I understand it, the reason one who plays dice is disqualified from giving testimony is not because he may squander money in an uncontrolled manner, but because the money he received was not acquired by him through a proper act of acquisition.
Generally, in order to make an acquisition in Judaism, the giver must fully intend to transfer ownership, and the receiver must fully intend to acquire. Afterwards, through the act of transferring the money or object, the other party can acquire it.
But regarding gambling, our Sages explained that since anyone willing to put money into a pile on a doubt does so because he thinks he will win, when it becomes clear that he has lost, [it is revealed that he did not fully intend,] and he does not really fully decide in his mind that he wants to transfer this money to another. Therefore, when it reaches the winner, it is considered robbery rabbinically [because by Torah law the winner is not considered to have stolen, since he does not take the money from the owner against his will; but rabbinically it is considered robbery, since the loser’s heart does not really and fully agree to transfer ownership].
Therefore, separating maaser from the profit will not help either, since the money came into his possession from the outset in an incomplete manner.
2) And all this is according to the Shulchan Aruch in Choshen Mishpat, siman 370. Therefore a Sephardi should not gamble at all, even in small sums.
3) According to the Rema, there is room to rely on the lenient opinion, that it is not considered robbery when two people gamble against each other in something over which they have no ability to affect the outcome, since then both fully intend and transfer ownership to the other out of the desire to acquire the other’s money if he should win.
According to this opinion, it is permitted to gamble in a manner where a person is not engaged in this mainly in order to earn his livelihood.
And so ruled Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z"l, that there is a distinction in this matter between Sephardim and Ashkenazim.
With blessing,
Rabbi Nachum
