You might think that God hates gambling but the truth is, it totally depends on what god you’re talking about.
helpless human beings have always called upon the spirit world to help them in everyday life
Throughout history, helpless human beings have always called upon the spirit world to help them in everyday life. Across every aspect of existence, from education to fertility or even eternal bacon (yes, that’s real), there really has been an ancient god for everything.
Putting aside the promise of a lifetime’s supply of streaky bacon for a moment, lets have a look at some of the most popular gods of gambling over the years.
Lakshmi: Hindu Goddess of Fortune and Prosperity
Lakshmi is a big deal for Hindus. She is the goddess of good fortune and the wife of another major deity in Hinduism, Vishnu.
Lakshmi is believed to bestow blessings and wealth upon people. Watch out though, because she only brings good fortune to those who truly deserve it. She does not pander to greediness and so if you only want more and more money for the sake of being rich, Lakshmi is not your lady.
Lakshmi also despises arrogance, although she is generous to those who respect her power.
According to Hindu legend, Lakshmi abandoned Indra the god of war and left him to fight off terrifying demons on his own because he was overconfident.
she would swim to the surface and give him the good fortune of helping to defeat the demons
When Indra admitted he was not powerful enough to fight alone, he dove to the seabed. There, Lakshmi instructed him to stir up the seas. She told him that if he churned up the ocean enough, she would swim to the surface and give him the good fortune of helping to defeat the demons.
After over a thousand years of serious sea stirring, Lakshmi was impressed with Indra’s hard work. As promised, she emerged from the ocean and fought alongside Indra to win the battle with the demons.
Hindus still worship Lakshmi today. In fact, during the Diwali festival, Hindus pray to her and bring her offerings. Once the worshipping is done, they often place a bet or buy a lottery ticket, believing that Lakshmi’s blessings are with them.
Hermes: The Ancient Greek God of Gambling
Hermes is one of the more famous ancient Greek gods but he’s best known for being a messenger and a kind of Underworld tour guide, helping people navigate the afterlife. Just imagine him marching along the side of the dreaded river Styx with a fluorescent umbrella, pointing out the sights…
Anyway, besides being helpful to tourists, Hermes was also known as a cheeky trickster who always managed to win what he wanted. That’s why before ancient Greek gamblers sat down for a bit of betting action, they would pray to Hermes.
It’s also worth noting that Hermes’ father Zeus was a big gambler too.
Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus played a high stakes dice game that decided who got what parts of the universe. Zeus won the sky, Poseidon got the sea and Hades, who rolled the lowest value of all of them, got the Underworld.
Nezha: China’s Ancient Gambling God
According to ancient Chinese myth, Nezha was born as a small boy, not a baby. When a story starts with someone coming out of the womb fully grown, you know you’re in for a good yarn…
When the Dragon King’s son tried to fight the special boy god Nezha, the Dragon King’s son lost and was killed. Hearing about this, the Dragon King began planning how to take revenge on Nezha’s family and his loyal followers.
To stop the Dragon King from hurting the people Nezha loved, Nezha killed himself. As a reward for this selfless act, Nezha eventually came back to life, killed some more evil spirits with his Dad and then died again.
in the end Nezha got to live out eternity in the heavens, surrounded by all the things he loved
Wow, this guy really did have a tough existence…it’s ok though, because in the end Nezha got to live out eternity in the heavens, surrounded by all the things he loved because he had won so many fights.
The Chinese people took the braveness of little Nezha into their hearts and started to pray to him and bring offerings to his grave.
Ancient Chinese gamblers believed that Nezha would bring them good luck and success in any games they played, so they would often carry small pictures of him as tokens of good fortune.
Thoth: Gambling God of Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians loved to bet and viewed it as entertainment but that’s not the only part that gambling played in Egyptian culture. There are many Egyptian myths that feature gods gambling over serious issues. These gods used gambling as a way of deciding the future or winning something they wanted.
The most famous gambling god is Thoth. Legend has it that he played an important game of dice against the moon – yes, you read that correctly. The moon is a pretty daunting opponent at the casino…
Thoth won the game of dice against the moon and as a reward, he earned five extra days. Thoth wanted those days to give to the goddess of the Sky, called Nut. During the five days Nut was able to give birth to her children, who later became powerful gods and goddesses in their own right.
Seeing as Thoth had the ability to gamble against something as big as the moon and walk away with the prize of actual time, ancient Egyptians decided to take him on as their god of luck. People would pray to him before they placed bets in their own dice games.
