Spousal reactions to social costs and benefits of legalizing casino gambling in their city are converted to psychometric measures that reflect teleological and distributive‐justice related ethical assessments. Major findings indicate low teleological and distributive justifications of casino gambling among both spouses, particularly among wives. As expected, heavy casino gamblers score higher compared to light gamblers and nongamblers; the level of one's past betting and gambling involvement is found to predispose higher ethical justifications of local casinos. Social policy implications of findings are discusse