Religious Traditions Include Holiday Gambling

The Boston Globe's Rich Barlow writes an interesting column today on the history of gambling traditions in Judaism and Christianity-- as the Massachusetts legislature prepares to debate casino gambling. A number of religious leaders oppose the casino gambling bill. In Judaism, Hanukkah includes gambling-- children playing dreidel, and adults playing a card game known as kvitlech. In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church encouraged gambling on holy days. Boston College professor Dwayne Carpenter outlined the ambivalent views of religious authorities toward gambling, saying that they often saw it as a way to "add to the merriment of an already joyous occasion." He said that Hanukkah card-playing once served as a cover for banned Torah study.