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Bishop not happy with 'prayerful' lotto bettors


Invoking God to win in lotto or other forms of gambling is a ‘defective’ practice of religiosity, a Catholic bishop said. As the jackpot in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office's lotto draws nears P300 million, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. criticized lotto bettors who pray only to win in gambling. “It’s sort of not exactly right because there’s a right way of expressing spirituality and religious sentiments. It’s a defect," Iñiguez, head of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) public affairs unit. In a news article posted on the CBCP news site, Iñiguez said some bettors pray hard inside churches to ask for help in picking the winning combination in the lotto draws. The bishop was also not happy with lotto bettors who reportedly wipe images of saints inside churches with their tickets as they pray for good fortune. Many Filipinos have formed queues in betting stations in the hope of becoming instant millionaires. The Catholic Church opposes gambling in any form, saying it is a menace to society and promotes the wrong values of depending on sheer luck instead of hard work. – VVP, GMANews.TV

Tags: cbcp, lotto
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