Is playing the lottery haram?

Why the scholars call it gambling

The ruling rests on what the lottery actually is: a person pays a small sum for a ticket, and then either wins a large prize or loses what he paid, with the outcome decided by chance. That is the exact structure of maysir — a transaction that turns on gain or loss that the participant cannot know in advance.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen defined it in precisely these terms, describing maysir as every transaction that revolves between winning and losing, where the one entering it does not know whether he will come out ahead or behind. He noted that Allah mentioned its benefits in the plural but its sin in the singular, to show that however many benefits it may seem to carry, they are drowned by the sin.

Allah says:

"O you who have believed, indeed intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone altars, and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful. Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not desist?"— Qur'an 5:90–91

The Permanent Committee drew out the argument from these verses: Allah commanded that gambling be avoided, and a command carries obligation; He called it filth from the work of Satan; He made avoiding it a cause of success, which means committing it invites His anger; and He tied it to enmity, hatred and forgetfulness of prayer. When Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه heard this passage, he said, "We have desisted, we have desisted."

The name on the ticket changes nothing

A recurring theme in the fatwas is that the label does not alter the reality. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen put it plainly: realities do not change with different forms or with decorated names. A "charitable lottery," a "national lottery," a "weekly draw" — the scholars treat these as the same transaction under different branding.

The Permanent Committee was asked specifically about a municipal authority that collected money from traders and distributed lottery tickets so that some would win prizes. It answered that the lottery is a type of gambling, and the money taken through it is unlawful wealth.

Shaykh Ibn Baz was asked about lotteries organised by charitable bodies to fund education, medical care and social services. His answer was that the lottery is the very heading of gambling, that it is forbidden by the Book, the Sunnah and consensus, and that it is not permitted for Muslims to engage in gambling at all — whether the money obtained is spent on charitable causes or otherwise, because the earnings themselves are impure and forbidden.

The winnings are not yours to keep

This is the part many people miss. The prohibition is not only on buying the ticket; the money that comes from it is unlawful gain, and it does not become lawful by being given away.

Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen addressed the case of someone who had already participated and won. His ruling: the charity given from such winnings is not accepted, because it is charity from unlawful earnings, and the Prophet ﷺ said that Allah is good and accepts only what is good. If a person repents, he should dispose of the money — by giving it away or directing it to public benefit — as a way of ridding himself of it, not as an act of worship seeking reward. The distinction matters: he is not purified by donating it as though it were his to give, but by extracting himself from wealth that was never lawfully his. He earns no reward for the charitable use itself, only for the repentance and the disposal.

What is permitted instead

The scholars are careful to note that not every competition involving a prize is gambling. The difference lies in where the money comes from and what the competition is.

• Stakes from both sides, winner takes all: this is clear gambling and is not permitted, whatever the game.
• Prize from a third party, or from one side only: this is not gambling in itself, but the nature of the contest still has to be examined.
• Contests on instruments of war or matters that benefit the community: these may carry a prize, following the Prophet's ﷺ statement that stakes are only permitted in archery, camel racing and horse racing — and the scholars extend archery to modern weaponry.
• A contest with no stake at all: permitted, since no one stands to lose anything.

Shaykh Ibn Baz also noted that the reason the concession exists for these particular contests is that they serve a purpose of strength and readiness, not amusement.

If you have already taken part

Repent to Allah and stop. If you are holding winnings, dispose of them in a way that removes them from your possession — the scholars describe this as a means of freeing yourself, not a charitable act you are rewarded for. And do not let the loss of the ticket money tempt you to keep buying in the hope of recovering it; that hope is part of how gambling works on a person.

Key takeaways

• The lottery is gambling (maysir), and it is haram — forbidden by the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the consensus of the scholars.
• The charitable purpose does not change the ruling. Whether the proceeds fund orphans, mosques or schools, the transaction itself remains forbidden.
• Winnings are unlawful wealth. They are not purified by being donated as charity; they are disposed of as a way of escaping them, without reward for the donation itself.
• The name does not change the reality. "Charitable lottery" and "national draw" describe the same forbidden structure.
• Permitted competitions are those where no participant stands to lose, or where the prize comes from outside the contestants and the contest serves a genuine purpose such as military readiness.

Further reading

• Majmu' Fatawa wa Maqalat al-Shaykh Ibn Baz — the sections on lotteries and gambling
• Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb — Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen's answers on lotteries and prize draws
• Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah — the rulings on lotteries

And Allah knows best.