Abdur Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera – Q&A Paying to Enter Competitions and Raffles

			Is it permissible to participate
in competitions, where you have to
		

			pay to enter?
		

			You can't do that that's that is
essentially so for example, paying
		

			50 pounds to enter a raffle for an
iPad.
		

			Clearly that's, that is gambling,
that is gambling where it's just
		

			50 pence. So it looks less, it's
not two pounds, or five pounds or
		

			20 pounds, it's the same thing.
Now, you can't justify this either
		

			by giving a lollipop or by giving
a suite or by giving something
		

			else. Because the MCSA the
objective that you're doing is the
		

			competition. If it's that, okay,
buy these lollipops, these are
		

			really nice lollipops, they're for
sale, right? They cost 20 Pence
		

			each or 50 Pence each or a pound
each for that matter. But and
		

			we'll also put your name in, you
know, like a side thing, and is
		

			seen as a side thing, and the
objective is that lollipop, then
		

			that's understandable. But when
the objective is the price, and
		

			the lollipop or the sweet or
whatever is being used as a as an
		

			excuse to justify it, it's not
allowed, because people are buying
		

			for that price. So that is what
you call gambling. There are ways
		

			to get around this, obviously, you
know, where you do certain things,
		

			and they people are just
automatically included in this
		

			raffle.
		

			Now, this is the same whether it's
done for charity or not. I've had
		

			at least three discussions about
this in the last few years with
		

			different organizations that want
to use because the raffle is a
		

			very nice way of making a lot of
money. Right? And you know in
		

			forest gate I've dealt with two
organizations if I remember
		

			correctly, a number of others
about this and this is the
		

			conclusion we came to that you
can't because it is gambling at
		

			the end of the day. And the little
token gift you're giving is just
		

			is not is not right