Gambling: Lotto Tickets

Is it permitted to use the lottery as hishtadlus for parnossa? This would mean buying lottery tickets on a regular basis. Things are so desperate with expenses debts and obligations, that I am seeking almost any possible solution.

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

Did you know that lotteries can be found in the Torah and in other areas of Jewish life?

Every Yom Kippur the High Priest would perform a lottery to determine which God would be offered to God and which goat would be sent to Azazel. Joshua divided up the land of Israel between all the tribes by means of a lottery. And sometimes in the synagogue who is to get which honor is sometimes determined by lottery.

So although, as you correctly imply, lotteries might be problematic, this is not always so. Lotteries are only problematic when somebody has to give up or otherwise lose something – usually money. The rabbis explain that such lotteries are problematic because nobody wants to lose, and by extension, nobody wants to give away their money. As such, there is an element of theft involved in lotteries and gambling: the winner gets money from others who never really wanted to part with their money

It is permitted, however, to buy the common nation-wide lottery tickets. This is because the ticket is paid for before the winning ticket is draw. By giving away money before the draw, willingly buying a ticket knowing that it is likely that one will lose, the winner is not considered to be taken anything stolen.

Nevertheless, you do mention using a lottery as a means of Parnassa, as one’s livelihood, which is absolutely forbidden. The Talmud tells us that people who make efforts to earn a living by gambling are people who are not of value to society and such people cannot be trusted as witnesses. A person must arrange for himself a steady income and live within his means.

I will also add the idea that one need not purchase more than one lottery ticket at a time. If God wants you to win the lotto, you are going to win whether you buy 1 ticket or 50 tickets. And same idea if God wants you to lose the lotto.

Sources: Rosh Hashanah 22a; Sanhedrin 24b; Choshen Mishpat 207:13 and 370:3