What is the Shariah ruling on playing online and video games? Are in-game purchases (in-app purchases), especially “loot boxes” in which a prize is obtained by chance after paying money, permissible, or is this gambling?

A game which in itself does not contain anything haram is in principle permissible (mubah), provided that: (1) it does not contain promotion of shirk, magic, obscenity or haram beliefs; (2) it does not make one heedless of salah and other obligations — Allah Almighty said regarding gambling that Satan wants, through it, to prevent you from the remembrance of Allah and from salah ﴿وَيَصُدَّكُمْ عَنْ ذِكْرِ اللَّهِ وَعَنِ الصَّلَاةِ﴾ (Surah Al-Ma'idah: 91), and this cause is found in every engagement that makes a person heedless of worship; (3) time is not wasted in it, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “There are two blessings in which many people are deceived: health and free time” (Sahih Al-Bukhari: 6412). Among the attributes of the believer is also that he turns away from purposeless and vain works: ﴿وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ اللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ﴾ (And those who turn away from idle talk) (Surah Al-Mu'minun: 3). When a game becomes a habit and addiction and studies, livelihood and the rights of family members begin to be affected, it leaves the circle of the permissible and comes close to the disliked and the prohibited.

It is narrated from Buraydah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever has played backgammon (nard, the dice game) has as if dipped his hand in the flesh and blood of swine” (Sahih Muslim: 2260). And he said: “Whoever has played dice has disobeyed Allah and His Messenger” (Sunan Abi Dawud: 4938; Sunan Ibn Majah: 3762 — Hasan). Al-Lajnah Ad-Da'imah has given the fatwa that dice games are not permissible even without a prize (Fatawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Da'imah: 15/210). This same ruling will also apply to those digital games whose outcome is based merely on chance and dice-like randomness, especially when wealth is also staked in it.

In a loot box, the player pays money and in return receives an in-game item whose nature and price are not known beforehand; sometimes an ordinary thing comes out and sometimes a rare one. This is haram for two reasons: first, it is qimar (gambling), because wealth is staked on an uncertain chance outcome, and Allah Almighty said: ﴿إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنْصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ﴾ (Indeed, intoxicants, gambling, stone altars and divining arrows are filth from the work of Satan, so avoid it) (Surah Al-Ma'idah: 90). Second, it is a sale involving gharar, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade buying and selling involving gharar (Sahih Muslim: 1513). Contemporary fatwa centres have declared buying an unknown thing randomly by paying money to be gambling and deception and have said it is impermissible (Islamweb fatwa, 2018). The fatwas of Al-Lajnah Ad-Da'imah concerning prize schemes are also based on this same principle (Fatawa Al-Lajnah Ad-Da'imah: 15/191, 15/195).

If something inside a game — for example, a specific skin or item — is purchased in such a way that both the item is known and the price is known, then this does not fall under the ruling of gharar and there is scope for this purchase in itself. However, avoiding extravagance and wastefulness is obligatory: ﴿إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانِ الشَّيَاطِينِ﴾ (Indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils) (Surah Al-Isra: 27). Similarly, holding a prize competition by taking a fee from the participants is qimar; a competition in which the prize is only from the organiser and the participants' wealth is not staked has a separate ruling.

Maqasid note: A young person's time, his attention and his wealth are the capital of his life. Game-making companies, through a planned system such as loot boxes, loot this same capital by turning it into an addiction to gambling; preservation of time and wealth and protection of the self from this cunning exploitative industry is the responsibility of every Muslim, especially parents.

Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.