(c) Wagers are frequently sinful, since many of them are incitements to sin (e.g., a bet that another is afraid to get drunk), or results of sinful motives (e.g., bets made in order to deceive, or to satisfy avarice, or to live without work), or causes of great evils (e.g., destitution of families, frauds, scandal, and corruption).
(d) Gaming is sinful when the form of the sport is objectionable (e.g., the ancient gladiatorial fights in which the combatants killed each other), or when the motives or circumstances are wrong (e.g., to play as a professional gambler so as to avoid work, to play cards all day Sunday, to play for higher stakes than one can afford, to spend time in “gambling hells”).
(e) Lottery is sinful when the object is bad (e.g., the raffle of an important office with the risk that incompetent persons may be chosen), or when the circumstances are bad (e.g., if persons are led into superstition or idleness and prodigality).
(f) Speculation is sinful in many instances, since it often brings on a gambling fever that makes the speculator useless to himself and his dependents, and causes poverty and crime.
(g) Pawning of property is often unjustifiable, since it makes persons deprive themselves of necessary property in order to indulge in some useless or extravagant whim with borrowed money.
1880. Illegal Contracts.—For reasons of public policy the positive law puts its disapproval on many of the above-mentioned contracts, at least in certain instances.
(a) Thus, sometimes the law makes a contract unenforceable in court, though the natural obligation is not affected. Hence, if a wager is only denied a hearing before a judge, the winner may keep his gains, and the loser should pay.
(b) If the law merely declares that a contract is illegal, the effect seems to be that the contract retains its natural validity unless the party who has suffered by it wishes to disavow it. As to the sinfulness of such a contract, that depends on whether or not the law is penal or preceptive in intent. Thus, many regard laws that make betting illegal as preceptive under venial sin, while others regard them as punitive only. Other examples of illegal contracts are: gifts made to a judge in connection with a trial; lottery, in Great Britain and the United States; certain games of chance, in some States; and in Canon Law, as regards the clergy, alcatory games for money, speculation and trading (Canons 138, 142).
(c) If the law makes a contract voidable, the effect is that the contract possesses its natural force until adverse decision is given by court. Hence, if a wager is voidable in law, the winner may keep his gains until obliged by a judge to give them up, but the loser is not bound to pay, unless he confirms the wager.
(d) If the law makes the contract ipso facto void, the agreement loses its natural force (see 558-560). In most of our States, wagering contracts are illegal and void whether by statute or by judicial decision. In many of these States the statute permits the recovery of the money from the winner or the stakeholder. Gifts offered as bribes are invalid, and those who give or take such gifts are guilty of serious sin and of a criminal offense. In some of our States, certain gaming contracts are also null.