Have you watched a sports event on TV recently? If your answer is yes, then you know it’s hard to go one commercial break without seeing an advertisement for some sort of casino or sports-based betting. The gambling industry has crafted a narrative that their products and services offer unmatched thrills and top-tier entertainment. The result? More Americans than ever are wagering on the outcome of a football game or the spin of a roulette wheel, all from the phones in their pockets. This is all legal in most states, yes. But is it ethical? What would Jesus have to say about it? Max Rogers seeks to raise awareness in the Christian community about the explosion of online betting into the American mainstream and thus into our daily lives. These pages address topics covered in the New Testament that aim to help Christians examine gambling through the eyes of Jesus, including discussions about money and greed, being aware of deceivers, and trusting in the Lord. If you or a loved one is struggling with the constant accessibility of sports and casino gambling, or if you are curious as to what the Bible says about Christians partaking in this activity, the hope is that these pages will shed God’s light on the subject.

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, The Bet The Wager Lose a bet, lose your heart... What is it about a junior-high crush that can send an otherwise intelligent woman into a tailspin? TV reporter Char Lynn wishes she knew. Jake Titus is too rich, too handsome, too arrogant: a trifecta that once lured Char into the best night-and worst morning-after-of her life. Now they've been thrown together in a wedding party. It's awkward, but survivable . . . until Jake stops acting like a jerk, and starts acting like the man she'd always hoped he could be. If watching your brother marry your best friend is weird, being attracted to your best friend's other best friend is downright bizarre. Unfortunately for Jake, Char hasn't forgotten how he once tossed her aside. Worse still, Jake's already-nutty grandma is even crazier about Char. Cue meet-cute shenanigans and all manner of meddling, and somehow, Jake's falling. For Char. Now all he has to do is make her believe it . . .

Don Giovanni was once the wealthiest and handsomest young man in Messina. Then a tidal wave changed everything. When a well-dressed stranger offers him a magical purse, he knows he shouldn't take it. Only the devil would offer a deal like this, and only a fool would accept. Don Giovanni is no fool, but he is desperate. He takes the bet: he will not bathe for 3 years, 3 months, and 3 days. Beauty is a small price to pay for worldly wealth, isn't it? Unless he loses the wager—and with it his soul. Set against the stunning backdrop of ancient Sicily, Donna Jo Napoli's new novel is a powerful tale about discovering what truly matters most.

Indulge in this "laugh-out-loud" (Jill Shalvis) #1 New York Times bestseller about two childhood enemies who--decades later--discover that there is a fine line between love and hate. "I have a proposition for you." Kacey should have run the minute those words left Seattle millionaire Jake Titus's mouth. It's been years since Kacey's seen her childhood friend Jake, but the minute Jake mentions his ill grandmother, Kacey is ready to do anything for the sweet old woman. And if that means pretending they're engaged for her sake, so be it. But Kacey wasn't counting on Jake's older brother Travis still being there. She calls him "Satan" for a reason: she's never forgotten the way he teased and taunted her. Yet when they meet again, Travis's gorgeous smile is a direct hit to her heart . . . and Kacey's more confused than ever. As the days pass, only one thing starts to become alarmingly clear -- she never should have accepted Jake's deal.

Lady Clara Harkhams wasn't a great beauty, but men clamored for her hand. She practiced the art of flirting with gay abandon, but she'd long ago given her body and soul to Lucien Bryland, the viscount she was promised to at birth. Now, after years abroad, Lucien returned a different man: dark, brooding, his piercing gaze setting her afire. His lips possessed her, his strong arms claimed her even as she refused to marry the stranger he'd become. Lucien knew he could never trust the coquette. But he planned the ultimate revenge--in marriage. Soon, he was sure Clara would be pregnant and tucked away in the country as he returned to London, his mistress, and the ton. So he'd wagered at White's. But the woman he tried to hate obsessed him. He had set out to enslave her, to make her want him as he wanted her. Yet the opposite seemed to be happening. Clara was an opiate and he was completely addicted. He could compel her to marry him--but he would have to win her love once again....

From Giller Prize winner, internationally acclaimed, and bestselling author Vincent Lam comes a superbly crafted, highly suspenseful, and deeply affecting novel set against the turmoil of the Vietnam War. Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler and an incorrigible womanizer. He is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of the Chen Academy. He is fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, and quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country. He devotedly ignores all news of the fighting that swirls around him, choosing instead to read the faces of his opponents at high-stakes mahjong tables. But when his only son gets in trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival faces the limits of his connections and wealth and is forced to send him away. In the loneliness that follows, Percival finds solace in Jacqueline, a beautiful woman of mixed French and Vietnamese heritage, and Laing Jai, a son born to them on the eve of the Tet offensive. Percival's new-found happiness is precarious, and as the complexities of war encroach further and further into his world, he must confront the tragedy of all he has refused to see. Blessed with intriguingly flawed characters moving through a richly drawn historical and physical landscape, The Headmaster's Wager is a riveting story of love, betrayal and sacrifice.

From Giller-Prize-winning author Sean Michaels, The Wagers is a wild and magical novel about what it means to not only chase luck, but find it. When Theo Potiris performed his stand-up comedy act on Conan at 25, he thought he’d hit it big. But ten years later, he's still spending his days working at his parents’ grocery store, bicycling to the local open mic, and writing letters to a girlfriend who lives halfway around the world. Theo’s desperate for a break. But when he brings his thirteen-year-old niece to the horse track to place a birthday bet—a Potiris family tradition—the goddess of good luck strikes her instead, in the form of a small fortune. Try as he might to be happy for her, Theo’s shock and envy finally push him out of the family nest, away from his comedy dreams and toward a new calling. First: a mysterious corporation called The Rabbit’s Foot, which carefully quantifies and cashes in on luck. Then: to a gang of vigilantes, who recruit Theo to help them steal luck from those who carry more than their fair share. The Wagers is a literary motorcycle chase, carried by stylish prose and delightful invention. But it’s also an investigation of work and purpose, happiness and art, the randomness of good fortune, and all the ways we choose to wage our lives.