Is betting on soccer matches allowed under Jewish law?
As World Cup advertising pushes Israelis toward legal betting through the Toto, and alongside the large illegal betting market and small private pools among friends, Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon says the halakhic answer is nuanced. Rimon, who serves as rabbi of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and as a halakhic authority, reviews the classic prohibition on gambling and explains that Jewish sources distinguish between different kinds of wagers.
He cites the Mishnah in Sanhedrin, which says a gambler is disqualified from testimony, and notes two explanations in the Talmud: one holds that gambling is forbidden because of possible theft, since the loser may not have truly agreed to give up the money, a concern known as "asmachta"; the other says the problem is that gamblers do not engage in productive work. He adds that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ruled, following the Shulchan Aruch, that gambling is prohibited because of theft, while Rabbi Moshe Isserles, the Rema, limited the issue to habitual gamblers who are not employed.
On that basis, Rimon says online betting with foreign companies that are mostly used by non-Jews can be permitted for someone who works and is not addicted, because the concern of theft does not apply in the same way. By contrast, betting directly between two people, even on football or cards and even for small sums, is problematic unless both sides transfer ownership of the money in advance in a clear, formal way.
Rimon distinguishes this from betting through the Toto or similar lottery-style systems in Israel, where the money is not wagered directly against another individual, the operator sets aside a fixed prize pool in advance, and part of the proceeds also supports public goals. He notes that for years rabbis treated Toto differently from football betting because many Israeli league matches were held on Shabbat, but that concern does not apply to the World Cup, which is played abroad and does not involve Israel. Still, he says he generally advises against gambling and warns that even limited participation can become addictive, quoting the rabbinic warning that it can be a slippery slope and that "many it has slain."
