Is Playing Lottery Different From Gambling?

Written by Graham McKenzie

Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:28

by GrahamMcKenzie

Gambling is nothing but indulging in a game of luck that requires every player to put in something valuable as stake. Those who win sweep away all the stakes and they need not even compensate the other players for the loss incurred by them.

Gambling can be of different types such as online betting, slot machines, card games, lottery, etc. Lottery is also a very popular type of gambling, in which the winners can win pre-decided gifts and prizes.

Although gambling is highly popular in several parts of the world, yet, it is strictly forbidden in the Islamic nations because Islam considers gambling to be an absolutely unethical practice, something which is equivalent to committing a big sin, and must therefore be avoided.

In fact, many top nations in the world have legalized lottery and have even opened Government-run state-lotteries to amass the public money and utilize it for the common benefit of the public. For instance, in countries like Spain, France, Canada, Belgium, U.K, several states in U.S (including Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, etc), there are several licensed casinos operating, because in these countries, lotteries are a popular form of entertainment and the social stigma associated with it is minimal. Therefore, gambling is considered not like a vice, but as a fun-filled game in these countries. And the proceedings form the lotteries and gambling is used for building public amenities.

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'.

A great matter of concern today is that lotteries and gambling have become just a little too common. The trend is so high that numerous instances of compulsive gambling have also been reported from different parts of the world. The patient suffering from compulsive gambling have been reported to experience temper tantrums, depression, anxiety, and a lot other behavioral anomalies such as taking loans secretly from everyone around them to obtain the money to participate in another round of gambling. Although their family members do not give their approval, these patient disobey them and go ahead to participate in gambling. They become very violent and aggressive and desperately want to gamble and win by all means.

Gambling must only be played for the sake of pure enjoyment and not as a means of earning a livelihood. Lottery or gambling is acceptable as long as nothing valuable is put at stake and little prizes are used as stakes, so that no one loses out on any hard earned possessions.

About the Author:

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 stake your claim in the Euro millions draw.

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