การเล่นหวยและการพนันล้วนมาจากอกุศลที่มุ่งทำร้ายทำลาย ไม่ใช่กุศลที่มีเหตุมีผล จึงเปิดช่องให้อกุศลเข้าครอบงำและควบคุมจิตใจได้ง่าย เสี่ยงทั้งเสียทรัพย์และได้รับทุกข์ ทั้งในชาตินี้และภพหน้า แม้เล่นเพียงเพื่อความเพลิดเพลินโดยไม่หวังผลก็ยังถือเป็นความติดใจในอารมณ์ ที่อกุศลใช้เป็นช่องทางควบคุมอยู่ดีPlaying the lottery and gambling both spring from unwholesome intent to harm, not from wholesome cause and reason, so they open the mind easily to being led and controlled by unwholesome forces — risking loss of wealth and suffering in this life and the next, even when played only for fun without expecting to win.
Someone asked: does playing the lottery create karmic result, and if so, what kind?
Fortune-Telling and Betting Are All Unwholesome
Everything to do with fortune-telling and games of chance is unwholesome. The Tipitaka, in the Mahā section, records that fortune-telling, prediction, and reading omens of every kind are forbidden. Playing the lottery or betting on numbers is therefore a risk.
It is risky because unwholesome forces are the ones leading you. Wholesome action never leads blindly — it always has cause and reason behind it. But unwholesome forces push people toward risk, because their aim is to harm and destroy, to grind people and beings down to ruin. Whatever makes no sense, whatever has no real cause and reason, is simply unwise. And once someone is unwise enough to believe and accept it, delusion takes hold. It happens this way in this life, and in the next life the same deception lures them again — endlessly, for as long as they keep accepting it.
A Story from Luang Pu: Winning Numbers Already Have an Owner
On the subject of the lottery, the revered Luang Pu once said that every winning number already has a name attached to it. Since it already has a name attached, whether you buy a ticket or not makes no difference — if it is meant to be yours, it will be yours regardless. And if it isn't meant to be yours, why buy it at all? What is meant to be yours will be yours no matter what.
Some people ask, “If I don't buy, how could I ever win?” — and so they go looking for their own way to test what they call the wonder of . But someone who buys lottery tickets is, in that very act, still not being wise.
The Lottery and Gambling Aim at Someone Else's Wealth
Betting on numbers is like gambling — it is aimed at taking someone else's wealth. One side or the other has to lose; if they don't lose, we do.
In right livelihood, we should seek our own wealth — the wealth that already lies within us. We set our intention on what we want, and the guardian ‘emperor’ within the sphere of merit opens a stream of merit-essence to draw it in for us. But if our merit isn't sufficient, there are two ways forward: either the emperor multiplies our existing merit until it is enough to complete the exchange, or we are led to create fresh wholesome causes — and in the moment we do something good, that very act draws in the merit we already have, so that the new and the old merit together become enough to draw in wealth.
So we should set our hopes on the subtle wealth that is truly our own, not on what belongs to others. It is the same in trade and business — we don't wish to take another person's wealth; we aim instead at the wealth we set our intention on within ourselves, the subtle wealth that lies within . When we abide with that subtle wealth and set our intention, the guardian ‘emperor’ draws it in for us.
The Sixth Hell Realm Is the Realm of Gambling
Gambling has its own hell realm — the sixth realm, reserved specifically for gambling, as Luang Phor once described. He told how, once someone gambles, the very equipment used in the game appears there and turns against them, becoming a weapon that destroys life, causing explosions and the like, bringing great suffering — suffering while still living as a human being, and further suffering in the lower realms after death. It simply isn't worth it.
Attachment to the Feeling Is How the Unwholesome Takes Control
Playing the lottery and gambling makes a person inclined toward risk-taking, easily led by unwholesome forces, and prone to losing wealth — because aims to harm and destroy, to grind a life down to ruin. Exactly how depends on our own past karmic tendencies, on what kind of deception we've been susceptible to before. If it is loss of wealth, leads to loss of wealth; the same is true of anger. Delusion, meanwhile, underlies everything else.
The pleasure and displeasure that arise here are greed itself — delight and attachment to a feeling, wanting more and more. Win once and you're hooked; lose and you still feel the thrill of having taken the risk, a certain flavor to it. But danger lies behind it — the unwholesome lies behind it, layering itself in, and its thoughts and feelings begin to surface in our own mind. It can possess us continually, for as long as we keep accepting it and haven't broken free — it can possess, direct, and lead us to do whatever it wants. The more we accept it, the more absorbed we become, the more easily and completely it controls our life, until we can no longer escape — it comes to control our thoughts and feelings entirely.
In the case of the lottery, this is attachment and delight bound up with greed — wanting only to play. Instead of thinking of what is right and good and wholesome, the mind becomes absorbed in wanting to take other people's money. Greed arises, and anguish follows close behind. This is, in essence, the unwholesome working behind the scenes, leading the way.
When It's Played Just for Fun, With No Expectation of Winning
Someone then asked further: what about people who have grown used to playing, who play every round but aren't hoping for a big windfall — just playing for enjoyment? Say they play ten times, win seven, lose three, it doesn't matter; the winnings might go toward a buffet meal or something small. They're not serious about it — except that if they don't buy a ticket, they feel a bit unsettled, so they still buy, but without expecting to win. Winning is fine, losing is fine too.
Phra Ajarn answered: that is still attachment to the feeling. The very fact of “needing to play, needing that enjoyment” — that is exactly the attachment being spoken of. In the next life, one remains under the control of that same unwholesome force, whether that life is one of wealth or hardship. When there's plenty of wealth, playing doesn't seem to matter. But once wealth becomes scarce, that is exactly where the trouble begins — anguish sets in, the family is drawn into crisis, and it becomes a vicious cycle. It's a frightening thing.