Adventures in Odyssey Home Page

Easy Money

Album: 26: Back on the Air

Episode: 338

Lesson/Theme: Gambling; responsibility.

Bible Verse: 1 Timothy 6:10

Characters: George, Sam

Writer: Marshal Younger

Sound Designer: Dave Arnold

Original Air Date: November 18, 1995

Last Air Date: May 11, 2009

Description:
Butch and Sam both want to play on a neighborhood roller-hockey team. The only problem is, they don’t have the money to buy the equipment necessary to play. So they decide to get jobs cleaning up at a local automotive garage, where they’ll have to get up extremely early to get their work done before school. Butch decides that kind of work is for the birds. When he finds a friend who likes to make bets, Butch decides doing that is a better way to make easy money. Meanwhile, Sam continues to work at the garage. He becomes so obsessed with working that he begins neglecting almost everything else, including his homework, his friends, and his family. In fact, Sam can’t even stay awake in church. Butch wins enough bets to buy his equipment, but soon he starts losing and gets deeply in debt. Before long, Sam decides that he really needs to give up his job. Butch is forced to stop gambling when his bookie comes looking for payment and winds up taking Butch’s new roller-hockey equipment. Both Sam and Butch learn the hard way that there is no such thing as easy money.

Questions:
Where did Sam go wrong? Why did Butch feel he had to bet on the big game? Is gambling wrong? Why or why not? What are the dangers of gambling?