Consumers claim contests tainted by gambling
By Malai Hassan Othman

Not only are Muslims at risk of inadvertently buying products which are passed off as halal items, they are also of late in danger of being exposed to lucky draws and similar competitions that are tainted by an element of gambling.

Gambling in whatever form is prohibited in Islam and a crime in Brunei.

But, pointed out several non-Muslim consumers who are concerned over the trend, some lucky draws and other prize-offering sales promotion actively practised here have some degree of gambling.

A girl working in a public sector office in Belait said recently instead of winning $1000 in prize-money, she lost $2000 when she participated in a phone quiz organised by a firm in Bandar.

"It was some kind of quiz via the SMS system. I won but to my surprise I ended up paying my phone bill to the tune of $2,000. Instead of getting the $1000 prize-money, I had to come up with $1000 to pay for the bill," added the girl who wished to remain anonymous.

Meanwhile, some concerned consumers warned of a recent contest offering $1000 in prize-money tied to an ongoing match.

"This is obviously gambling," said a local Chinese consumer who was among those concerned over the growing trend of promoting sales via lucky draws and other prize-offering sales gimmicks that contain an element of gambling.

We just hope it is not so as this kind of unhealthy activity is in some way helping to nurture a gambling culture in our community, said several other consumers who also contacted the Borneo Bulletin Hotline during the past few days to express their concern.

They said it is okay if businesses in the retail, services and other sectors intend to promote their sales via lucky draws and other reward-giving contests that are free from any gambling elements.

It has to be fair and clean contest in which the participants would not lose anything while the organiser too would not suffer much losses in the pursuit of greater returns from such sales gimmick, they pointed out.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin