Online Betting and Gambling in the Digital Economy: An Analytical Study of Islamic, Social, and Legal Dimensions

ڈیجیٹل معیشت میں آن لائن جوا اور بیٹنگ کے اثرات و مضمرات: اسلامی، سماجی اور قانونی زاویوں سے تجزیاتی مطالعہ

Abstract

Gambling (Qimar) does not only refer to the common form of betting in which money is directly involved; rather, it includes all kinds and forms that are carried out under the guise of trade but are in fact types of gambling. Anyone familiar with business can easy realize how commercial gambling disrupts and destroys the overall economic system of a country and how the pursuit of profit without labor ruins thousands of families and households. Gambling was prevalent even in the age of ignorance, but in the modern era it has taken on new forms, the understanding of which has become a pressing need of the time. The jurists (Fuqaha) state that a person who is not aware of the ways of his contemporaries such as their lifestyle, their economic dealing, their social practices, and their customs and tastes is in reality ignorant. In the modern era, gambling has taken on new forms, with various gambling apps at the forefront through which large scale betting is taking place. In addition, online casino games, sports betting, e sports betting, online poker rooms, virtual sports, crash games, multiplier games, and crypto casinos/ block chain based gambling have also emerged. This article presents an introduction to gambling and highlights its contemporary online forms to raise awareness. Furthermore, it discusses the economic, social and moral impacts of gambling, while also pointing out its harms from an Islamic perspective. The purpose is to encourage people to keep themselves away from this curse and to make the new generation aware so that they too may stay protected from it.