Are Gambling and Lottery Two Different Names Of The Same Game?
‘Gambling’ can be defined as a game of chance, which involves the use of stakes (any valuable possession that you may want to offer in exchange for a chance to win the stakes of all the other players). The winner wins all the stakes of the other players but the worst part of gambling is that the winner need not compensate the losers for their loss.
Casinos, card games, slot machines, horse racing, poker, and bingo are some of the most popular forms of gambling. In fact, lottery is one of the most popular forms of gambling, preferred by a middle-class person, which requires the participant to buy a lottery ticket of his choice and wait until the lot is made and the winner is declared. Lotteries offer varying amounts of prize money or gift item that is pre-decided and mentioned on the lottery ticket.
However, gambling and lottery are not patronized in any Islamic nation because in Islam, gambling is a taboo and no Islamic national is supposed to indulge in gaining easy money, which involves the game of chance or which robs the other people of their hard earned money or possessions. Gambling is therefore considered haram by Islam. However, gambling continues to grow popular in the other parts of the world and people love to play lottery and gambling games.
Although gambling is considered to be a sin by Islam, many other nations in the world patronize gambling and lotteries. In fact, gambling is considered to be a highly fun-filled and entertaining experience, that is quite important from the tourism perspective and draws huge crowds from across the globe, as is seen in the case of the casinos in Las vegas. Several nations of the world including Spain, France, Canada, Belgium, U.K, and even U.S are therefore seen encouraging gambling and the proceeding from the lotteries and casinos are donated for the development of public infrastructure.
Many people, however, prefer to ignore lotteries because they are of the opinion that lotteries are nothing but “taxes levied on stupidity”. They feel so because the chances to win the lottery is very low when compared to the other forms of gambling and inspite of knowing this fact, uncountable people still prefer to buy a lottery ticket and try their luck. Hardly do they know the fact that their money fills up the government’s public utility funds, just as the taxes paid by us fill in the government’s treasuries, and therefore, they prefer to refer to lotteries as ‘tax on stupidity’.
It has been reported from many parts of the world that people are taking up gambling not as a means of entertainment, but as a serious way of generating income for themselves. This obsession to gamble has taken a far more ugly shape and many individuals are reported to be suffering from compulsive gambling, which is a psychological disorder, wherein the patient cannot overcome the desire to continue gambling, although he may have incurred huge loss because of it.
Playing gambling at the cost of someone’s hard earned money or possessions is absolutely unethical. Instead, lottery and gambling can be played purely for fun, using less valuable gifts and token amounts as this will not harm anyone and everyone can enjoy the game irrespective of whet
Graham McKenzie is the content coordinator for a South African UK Lottery Ticket website, where you can buy tickets to play the UK lottery and participate in the Euro millions draw.