The modern scientific view toward gambling and religion is not complimentary. It's downright cynical. Science's view is that gamblers are destined to lose because the laws of mathematics preclude human mastery over the forces of nature. But don't bother explaining that to anyone shooting craps or playing slot machines. You might as well try preaching nihilism to a group of Carmelite nuns.
Some scientists view religious practices with an equal dose of cynicism.
Their followers are doomed to a fate that is all the more disappointing in the end, upon the realization that massive amounts of time and energy have been wasted, and pleasures denied. It's the ultimate display of self-flagellation. The monuments we have built to gambling and religion are strikingly similar. At different periods in history, both have been responsible for the most grandiose architecture of the day. Gothic cathedrals dating back to the Renaissance and mosques in the Middle East that are a thousand years old were once the cultural manifestations of the time.