Short answer
Yes. The Qur'an names gambling beside intoxicants and tells believers to keep away from both (5:90). Islam asks it because gambling takes wealth without work or a fair exchange, and it sets people against each other. The Qur'an says Satan uses it "to excite enmity and hatred between you" and to turn people from remembering God (﷾) and from prayer (5:91). It does not pretend there is no gain in it. It says the sin is greater than the profit (2:219). Today the World Health Organization finds that around 60% of the money lost to gambling comes from people gambling at harmful levels, and that each of them affects about six others. Islam's way instead is honest work and fair trade. The Prophet (ﷺ) said no one has eaten better food than what he earned with his own hands (Bukhari 2072). If you gamble, it is no barrier to becoming a Muslim. Islam wipes out what came before it, and Allah (﷾) helps whoever turns to Him.
Full explanation
What the Qur'an says
The Qur'an names gambling twice, each time beside intoxicants. First it answered a question: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit" (2:219). Then came the final word. Gambling, with intoxicants, idol-stones and divining arrows, is "an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper" (5:90).
“They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: "In them is great sin, and some profit, for men; but the sin is greater than the profit." They ask thee how much they are to spend; Say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah Make clear to you His Signs: In order that ye may consider-”
“O ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination,- of Satan's handwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.”
Why Islam asks it
The Qur'an gives the reason itself: "Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer" (5:91). In gambling one person's win is another's loss, taken without work and without a fair exchange. The Qur'an says: "do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities" (2:188). What it allows instead is "Traffic and trade by mutual good-will" (4:29).
“Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?”
“And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people's property.”
“O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful!”
Even the invitation
The Prophet (ﷺ) took it seriously enough that even the words mattered. He said that whoever says to his companion, "Come, let us gamble", should give something in charity.
Abu Hurayra reports that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said that whoever swears by al-Lat and al-Uzza should say: there is no god but Allah; and whoever says to his companion, "Come, let us gamble", should give something in charity.
What it does to people
The World Health Organization's 2024 fact sheet on gambling says about 1.2% of the world's adults have a gambling disorder. Around 60% of the money lost to gambling comes from people gambling at harmful levels. For every person who gambles at high risk, about six others are affected, usually people who do not gamble. The harms it names include debt, family breakdown, family violence, neglect of children, crime and suicide. A Swedish study found that people with a gambling disorder were 15 times more likely to die by suicide. This is the enmity and hatred the Qur'an named.
Estimates suggest that 1.2% of the world's adult population has a gambling disorder. People gambling at harmful levels generate around 60% of losses. For every person who gambles at high-risk levels, an average of six others, usually non-gamblers, are affected. Harms include financial distress, relationship breakdown, family violence, neglect of children, crime, mental illness and suicide; a Swedish study found those with a gambling disorder 15 times more likely to die by suicide. Heavy promotion online and through sport risks normalizing gambling for children and young people.
“Satan's plan is (but) to excite enmity and hatred between you, with intoxicants and gambling, and hinder you from the remembrance of Allah, and from prayer: will ye not then abstain?”
What Islam offers instead
Islam does not ask people to stop wanting a better life. It points them to honest ways to it: work, trade and giving. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that no one has eaten better food than what he earned with the work of his own hands, and that the Prophet David ate from his own labour. He also said that Allah (﷾) dislikes the wasting of wealth.
Al-Miqdam reports that the Prophet (ﷺ) said no one has ever eaten better food than what he earned by the work of his own hands, and that the prophet David used to eat from what he earned by his own labour.
Al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba wrote that he heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say that Allah dislikes three things for people: idle talk, the wasting of wealth, and asking too many questions.
If you gamble
Gambling is no barrier to becoming a Muslim, and you do not have to stop first. Islam wipes out what came before it. Leaving gambling is then part of your path. It can become an addiction, and someone caught in it needs help, not scorn. And the Qur'an says to everyone who has wronged themselves: "Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins" (39:53).
Amr ibn al-As, near death, said that before Islam no one was more hateful to him than the Prophet (ﷺ), and he had wished to kill him. He told how he came to the Prophet to accept Islam. He asked the Prophet to stretch out his right hand so he could pledge, then drew his own hand back. Asked why, he said he wanted a condition: that he be forgiven. The Prophet asked whether he did not know that Islam wipes out everything that came before it.
Estimates suggest that 1.2% of the world's adult population has a gambling disorder. People gambling at harmful levels generate around 60% of losses. For every person who gambles at high-risk levels, an average of six others, usually non-gamblers, are affected. Harms include financial distress, relationship breakdown, family violence, neglect of children, crime, mental illness and suicide; a Swedish study found those with a gambling disorder 15 times more likely to die by suicide. Heavy promotion online and through sport risks normalizing gambling for children and young people.
“Say: "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Perspectives
It is harmless fun
Many people say a small bet or a lottery ticket is harmless fun. They say lotteries raise money for good causes.
A small bet for fun hurts no one.
Rebuttal
The industry lives on the people it harms: around 60% of the money lost comes from those gambling at harmful levels, and each of them affects about six others. The small, normal bet is what draws people in. The WHO warns that heavy promotion online and through sport is making gambling normal for children and young people.
Lotteries raise money for good causes.
Rebuttal
The Qur'an already weighed this. It grants that there is "some profit" in gambling, "but the sin is greater than the profit" (2:219). Good causes can be served by giving directly, and Islam asks every Muslim to give, through zakat and charity.
The Islamic perspective
The Qur'an forbids gambling, beside intoxicants, because it takes wealth without work or a fair exchange and stirs up enmity. Islam points instead to honest work, fair trade and giving.
The Qur'an names gambling beside intoxicants and tells believers to keep away from both.
The Qur'an says Satan uses gambling to stir up enmity and hatred and to turn people from prayer.
The Qur'an forbids consuming one another's wealth in vanities, and allows trade by mutual consent.
The Prophet (ﷺ) told anyone who invited another to gamble to give something in charity.
About 1.2% of adults worldwide have a gambling disorder, and each high-risk gambler affects about six others.