Brunei Looking Closely At SMS Contests For Gambling Elements
By M K Anwar

Bandar Seri Begawan - A recent fatwa by the Malaysian National Fatwa Council, which has ruled that contests based on Short Messaging Service or SMS that contains elements of gambling is considered 'haram' or prohibited in Islam, is being closely studied in Brunei.

With many competitions using SMS that is widely accepted and popular in this country, sources told the Borneo Bulletin yesterday that relevant authorities are looking closely at the Malaysian ruling.

The ruling that was taken in Malaysia was based on opinions and feedbacks from consumers and also discussions with other experts in the fields of IT.

It is argued that SMS contests do involve a certain cost in terms of money in order to win some prizes. And at the end of the day, all that is won mostly depends on luck. The council also said that some of the contests are "exploitive in nature".

The Chairman of the Malaysian National Fatwa Council was quoted as saying that SMS contests have elements of trickery, chance, betting and guessing, and a person spends huge amounts of money but has no guarantee that he will actually win.

SMS in Brunei has spurned from a form of communication to a profitable medium for several companies. With advancement in technology, SMS has gained worldwide acceptance and many are now using it as a marketing and entertainment tool.

Gone were the days where contests were participated through mail or just by filling in a form and answering some questions from just answering simple questions and sending it directly through SMS to other much more simple contests. Companies providing premium services offer several prizes such as mobiles and electrical goods.

Simple as they are, people enter these contests from the comfort of their homes by simply sending several messages via SMS. These messages come at a cost and people end up paying more than they bargain for and get nothing in return. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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