GAMBLING has been branded the new "opium of the people" in a Church of Scotland report presented to the General Assembly today.
The Kirk's church and society council said gambling had been made more socially acceptable by the creation of the National Lottery in 1994.
Internet gambling is also estimated to have attracted as many as 3.8 million regular punters in the UK.
In total, Britons gambled £53 billion in 2005 - the equivalent of over £800 for every man, woman and child in the country, said the report.
And it claimed there was now a culture of gambling which distorted hope and suggested people's problems would all be solved if they could only win the jackpot.
But the report said it was a myth to believe gambling offered a route out of poverty.
It said: "Gambling encourages a kind of idolatry of wealth and indeed one might well argue that gambling, rather than religion, is today the 'opium of the people', to adapt Marx's phrase.
"Gambling subtly reinforces and justifies the distorted values of an increasingly unequal society."
The report said problem gambling could cause people to run into debt, have difficulty holding down a job, put their homes and relationships at risk, lead to health breakdowns and even drive some to suicide.
The Assembly was expected to pass a series of resolutions encouraging church members to challenge the growth of the gambling culture and support those who suffer from gambling addiction; calling on the Government to undertake research on casinos and problem gambling; and urging the Scottish Executive to fund education programmes on the dangers of gambling.
The Kirk maintains its hard line against all forms of gambling, including raffles and tombolas to raise money.
But the report said the church's concern was not so much with "personal choices of individuals" as with "the huge problems which occur when gambling becomes a major element in our economy."
It said the change in attitude towards gambling could be traced back to the introduction of the National Lottery in 1994.
It said the loss of stigma, together with the ever-increasing accessibility of the internet, had helped to push the number of regular online gamblers to almost four million and the average online gambling debt to over £25,000.
The report said internet gambling promoted continuous and repetitive play, making it particularly dangerous for the vulnerable and the young.
While the Kirk welcomed new regulations and protection introduced as part of the 2005 Gambling Act, it opposed the law's support for 17 new casinos and a "super casino".
Edinburgh's licensing board last year refused permission for a new casino on the site of a former bingo hall and dance venue in Fountainbridge. It would have been the fifth such establishment in the city.
The Rev Professor Duncan Forrester, who chaired the sub-committee which produced the report, said gambling "gives [people] a phoney belief that very soon they will be fabulously rich without doing anything to earn it."
The full article contains 507 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
