What Is The Difference Between Lottery And Gambling?
Written by Graham McKenzie   
Wednesday, 10 March 2010 08:12
'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.
by GrahamMcKenzie


'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.

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.

The craze for lotteries and gambling is very high across the globe and people from all income groups are found to be indulging in gambling. In fact, lotteries have earned the name - "tax on stupidity" because there are very remote chances of winning in a lottery, when compared to the other popular forms of gambling, and yet we stupidly keep buying lottery tickets in the hope of winning some day. Since the revenue generated from gambling is used for social service such as for the construction of roads, schools and hospitals, it is used more or less like the taxes paid by us. Hence it has earned the name - "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 participate in the Euro millions draw.