The images of gambling in America are a far cry from a generation ago:

• Thrilled lottery winners display giant checks and tell which part of their dreams they plan to fulfill first.

• Catchy TV ads portray the bright lights, happy faces, and seductive action at nearby casinos, and promise "the wonder of it all."

• Gaming and wagering offers in Las Vegas now come wrapped in attractive family-vacation packages.

Once seen as a shady business with a sleazy ambience, gambling has won increasing respectability. Two-thirds of Americans now call it "morally acceptable," and even more have participated in one form or another in the past year. State governors, facing huge budget deficits, often include gambling-expansion plans in their electoral platforms or budget proposals.

Yet despite the wider acceptability, the public seems ambivalent. As state politicians become "gambling czars" and casinos proliferate, many citizens are mounting a battle to contain it.

In fact, last year, 42 out of 45 proposals for expansion in 30 states were defeated, according to the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. Five states rejected lotteries; six turned down first-time casinos; and the fight over slot machines in racetracks tallied 19 against 2. "With the favorability ratings and gambling in 48 states, you'd think it would be flying off the shelves, but it isn't," says the Rev. Tom Grey, the Methodist minister who founded the coalition, which collaborates with local antigambling groups.

Does this reflect a public backlash?

The casino industry says "no," that defeats come largely because other gambling interests don't want competition. "Whenever a change in the mix is proposed - to have a riverboat casino in a state with a lottery and horse-racing, for example - you'll normally find the main opposition comes from existing gambling in the state or in adjacent states," says Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the American Gaming Association (AGA).

This is clearly a factor in some defeats. In others, however, citizen groups can claim the victory.

In Maine, for instance, a group that started around the kitchen table sparked the defeat of a casino proposed by Indian tribes and a Las Vegas interest by marshaling grass-roots support against gambling across the political spectrum.

"We had no gambling-interest backing," says Dennis Bailey, a public relations executive who led the effort. They got a big boost when L.L. Bean joined the fray, followed by other businesses.

"Gambling isn't seen as a sin any more, but there's just way too much," Mr. Bailey explains. "The backlash is against casinos. The industry just doesn't know when to quit."

For Maine residents, it's an issue of quality of life and image. "They don't want the state's image to change from "lighthouses, lobsters, potatoes, and woods" to "casinos, slot machines, and dancing girls" says Bailey.

At the same time, another ballot initiative for slots at racetracks passed. The group had decided not to try to fight both initiatives at once, what they now term a strategic mistake. "We think we can get it back to another vote," Bailey says.

And yet, Mr. Fahrenkopf says, many economically depressed communities have benefited from gambling. In Iowa last year, for example, all 11 counties that voted on eliminating riverboats or racinos (slots at racetracks) opted to keep them.

Various polls show 25 to 38 percent of Americans have religious or moral misgivings about gambling, but many are reluctant to press their case in terms of personal morality.

Those who object to gambling on religious grounds tend to see it as incompatible with God's role in human life and as a subversion of the Protestant work ethic.

"Those in the evangelical tradition would argue that everything belongs to God and you're not using what God has placed in your hands in a responsible way," says Tony Campolo, head of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education. "Also, earning money is a spiritual responsibility, and we shouldn't try to get it for nothing."

But there are those who are willing to press for action based on broader moral concerns. Dr. Campolo and more than 150 other religious leaders sent an open letter to the US Congress in 2002 urging that it begin to address "the pain and devastation" that gambling has wrought on society.

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