International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), Vol. 3, No.4, November 2018 1 THE INTERFACE OF FOOTBALLING AND GAMBLING SAGA AMONG MUSLIM YOUTHS IN NIGERIA: CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES AND ISLAMIC SOLUTION Muhammad Maga Sule and Adam Yusuf Adam Department of Islamic Studies, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto ABSTRACT Online football betting has become prevalent among Nigerian youths and for which Muslim youth are deeply involved. Betting of any kind is prohibited in Islam with evidence stated in many verses of the Glorious Qur’an and Ahadith. Therefore, this paper studied how Muslim youths participate in online football betting and the negative effects therein. It is also observed that due to the get rich quick syndrome and lack of the true Islamic knowledge led most of the Muslim youths into online football betting. The paper discussed most of the prevailing effects of betting/gambling on Muslim youth. The work suggested ways to eradicate or reduce the growing prevalence of online betting among Muslim youth. Furthermore, it has discussed the Islamic rulings regarding all forms of gambling or betting with verses from the Glorious Qur’an and Ahadith of Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Content analysis was adopted as the methodology for the research. KEYWORD Muslim youths, Football, Online betting, Islamic perspective 1. INTRODUCTION The growing popularity of Sport Gambling/Betting in Nigeria and the fact that many more youth across the country are getting involved in it daily may prompt several questions, such as: Is sport betting gambling, is it a legitimate business, by that I mean, is it legal and is it sin….? Sports betting and other forms of gambling are becoming a phenomenon across Africa and Nigeria in particular. Betting over which sport team may win have become a multi-million Naira business. Nigeria is witnessing a huge expansion in sport betting and other forms of gambling. Lotteries, poker, sport bets, slot machines, casino games, and online gambling are all new trends. Many enterpreneurs and foreign companies are pocketing millions of Naira from Nigerians who wants quick money. Gambling and other terms such as gaming and 'games-of-chance' are driven from the Anglo- Saxon terms ‘gamen’ and ‘gamon’ which mean sport or play. The general use of the word gamble denotes any decision executed in any transaction or pursuit involving risk and uncertainty. Hence, gambling is to play a game of chance for money or to take a risk for some advantage or a risky venture. Risk and uncertainty are faced in gambling since the outcome of the decision taken is unknown even though a good outcome is always expected. Therefore, it is said that politics, in fact, is ‘a big gamble’ since judgements passed in this area are always uncertain and risky. The