What is the ruling on the lottery?

The questioner : The lottery common among people; some people say that this lottery ticket is paid to the poor, and in exchange for this payment, they receive a receipt, meaning this ticket is considered a receipt. Is this statement correct? That is what some people call it.

The Shaykh : They call it by a name other than its true name, yes.
The charitable lottery. Glory be to Allah. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us of things we touch with our own hands. He said: . Then the tear in the cloth became wider than the patcher could mend, and many forbidden things came to be called by names other than their true names. This is a witnessed reality, and even the righteous among the Muslims and the scholars of knowledge have been tested with it. You hardly hear the word riba (usury or interest) today, because the word "interest" has taken its place. "The interest of such-and-such bank is five percent," or "The interest of such-and-such bank is two and a half percent." No one among them says, "He takes riba." These are the scholars of knowledge, so what can we say about those below them? Therefore, fear Allah and do not replace the terms of the Shari'ah with terms that have come to us from disbelief, from the lands of disbelief, the disbelief of the lands of misguidance, whom Allah (Mighty and Majestic) described rightly in His saying in the noble Qur'an: . We have been influenced by these people, and we have come to call things by names other than their Shari'ah names. We call riba (usury or interest) "interest," we call dancing "fine arts," and we call art "beautification" and so on. Likewise, we call gambling the "charitable lottery." This is a game of chance, your luck and your share. The wheel spins, one person loses a million, and one person wins a million. A million people subscribed, and they all lost what they paid. Whether the one who took the sum of these profits or not, this is gambling itself. But to make it acceptable to people, they called it what? The charitable lottery. And the matter was hidden from people.

The questioner : Even among merchants and factory owners, all of them. They say to you, "A prize, buy this."

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And they have started to promote gambling to the entire Ummah (the Muslim community), the owners of capital...

The Shaykh : Yes, please, yes.

The questioner : The same question, Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.