Television game shows have further lowered our resistance. However, in the last century, contests, lotteries, and sweepstakes have become so commonplace we hardly associate them with the evils of 19th-century gambling. Because of their similarity to games of chance, sweepstakes were often included in that ban. Therefore, Christian leaders strongly opposed any venture that even remotely hinted of gambling.
Fortunes were lost and families were destroyed by the roll of the dice or the toss of a card. Gambling was once the forte of shady characters and the underworld. Gambling, and any contest where the monetary outcome is based on chance, has long been condemned by the church, and for good reason. The term originated from a Middle English word, swepestake, which referred to a winner who swept the table of all earnings.
Sweepstakes may or may not involve gambling, as the winnings can be chosen by random drawing without cost to the winner. A sweepstakes can refer to a lottery or to a race or contest in which the entire prize is awarded to one winner.
