[Taraz]

I would say gambling is generally considered "bad" for a few reasons:

- It's highly addictive.

- It has the potential to be very destructive. And the destruction isn't gaining a few pounds, it's losing all your material posessions.

- As ChrisV said, it's all about greed (a perceived sin)

- It's almost universally -EV for the player, so you will end up losing out in the long run. (Think smoking cigarettes or something where long term health is sacrificed for short term pleasure.)

- It's not socially accepted like alcohol, cigarettes, etc. I think this is as big of a factor as anything.