At my previous school in the UK I was teaching a ‘Preparation for Adult Life’ class on one occasion using a lesson plan provided centrally. In the lesson we showed this video in which a former gambler describes his journey, starting with very small bets made very infrequently, escalating to three years later by which time he’d lost everything. The video conveyed a very powerful message, very much within the spirit of the lesson we were teaching. But there was one thing particularly which attracted my attention, the name of the speaker, Justyn Rees Larcombe. I already had come across both his parents. Jennifer Rees Larcombe is a well known Christian author and speaker who came close to death from a terrible neurological condition before being miraculously healed. And his father, Tony Larcombe, was a mathematics teacher who became an advisory teacher and wrote a book about mathematics teaching. Trouble is, by the time I worked in initial teacher training, the book was already old, when students quoted from it, it was because they went to the library after everybody else and pulled whatever they could find that looked relevant from the shelves. Not actually read it myself. Sorry about this, Tony.
I’m due to be speaking in school about gambling from a Christian perspective in a few weeks, and remembered this video and tracked it down again. Then to find that Rees Larcombe has written the book ‘Tails I lose’ about his experiences, which I have now read. To come to the conclusion – everybody needs to read this book!
I’m pleased that, before I read the book itself, I had already read some reviews of it on Amazon, so knew in advance that you’re half way through the book before he starts to engage with the gambling, describing his childhood, early success as a swimmer, career in the army before then becoming a highly paid insurance executive with a wife, children and beautiful home. Then one Saturday afternoon he was watching sport on television and up popped an advert for a gambling website with an introductory offer matching the money he put up. At that stage the sums of money were minute compared to his income, and he was betting at the rate of once a week. Early wins encouraged him to persist, with the sums of money gradually getting larger, the bets become more and more frequent, until three years later he’d gambled away £750 000 and lost everything. There was then a painful period of putting his life back together, taking full responsibility for his actions, going public and looking to help others in the same situation.
To my knowledge, the Bible does not explicitly forbid gambling – if I’m wrong please do tell me, I’d be very pleased to be corrected on this point. But the verse which I will be using in my up coming chapel talk is John 8:32, Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Two key words in this verse, I suggest – truth and free. Let me look at truth first. Jesus came that we might know the truth. One of the very striking things in Rees Larcombe’s account, particularly in the final weeks before everything came crashing down on him, is the lies he was telling. More than anybody else he was lying to his wife about money which was supposed to be invested but actually had been gambled away, and why treasured possessions kept on disappearing. He lied constantly also to friends and family, to companies from whom he was getting loans, often for the purpose of repaying interest on other loans he’d already taken out. Lie upon lie upon lie.
Meanwhile, I recently received a text message, to my knowledge only because I have a SIM card from one of the main operators here in Uganda, which reads as follows: “Play, Win and Redeem Cash on (name of gambling website). Don’t miss out”. It sounds great, doesn’t it? Friendly, inviting, generous, play a game and win money at the same time. “Don’t miss out.” No, absolutely not, why would I? That would be silly!
Deep, deep sigh of disbelief, frustration and rising anger. Let’s slow this all down and read it again. “Play.” Yes, OK, lots of people can do that. “Win”. Hold on a minute here, only a very small fraction of the players are actually going to win. The whole premise of gambling as a business is that, on average, you pay more to the betting shop than you receive in winnings. Has to be true. But the writers of this advertisement gloss over this point and go straight to ‘Redeem Cash’ – which I suggest to you is a complete irrelevancy. The overwhelming majority of people will not ‘redeem cash’ because they won’t have won. And can I suggest to you that the very last thing on the mind of the very small number of people who do win is the precise form in which the money is handed over. But it’s very, very clever writing, giving a totally false impression as to what is going on here. You’re going to win! So let’s talk now about how we give you your money!
It breaks my heart, in a country where gambling is a big problem, that anybody would receive that text message and accept it at face value, not recognising the appalling lie that it is. Once again, lie upon lie upon lie. When Jesus Christ came that we might know the truth.
Secondly and much more briefly, Jesus came to set us free. Again, in the last few weeks before Rees Larcombe’s world collapsed, there is a very striking sense of him being in bondage, his gambling habit controlling him to a frighteningly large extent.
I used to take the view that recreational gambling, using small amounts of money, done infrequently, knowing that you’re almost certain to lose, was all right for Christians. Since starting to work on my upcoming talk, I’ve changed my view on this point. The area is too fraught with lies, manipulation, broken lives. Even if we ourselves can control our gambling, the principle of the weaker brother would teach us, I want to suggest, that this is not appropriate. Would I be happy to be seen by my students, colleagues, boss, fellow church members, in a betting shop? No. In which case, if I am to live in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then I shouldn’t be gambling in the privacy of my own home either.
So, Mr Rees Larcombe, thank you for your honesty and openness in writing your book, for speaking out and helping others. May you know the blessing of our Almighty God in your important work. And let us pray for all those involved in this area, that they would know the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for reading, interested to hear what you think.
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