How the Scourge of Online Gambling is Hollow Out Our Youth
By Syed Mustafa Ahmad
A few days ago, I had a chance encounter that shook me to my core. I crossed paths with a young man from my own village, a face I recognized but a spirit I could barely identify. The transformation was haunting. His condition was terrible; his eyes were sunken deep into their sockets, void of the spark of youth, and his posture was that of a man carrying the weight of the world on crumbling shoulders. Looking at him, I was forced to wonder whether he was suffering from a terminal illness or if the crushing burden of domestic responsibilities had prematurely turned him into a living corpse.
Driven by a sense of shared humanity and neighborly concern, I stopped him. I asked what tragic reasons had led him to this state of despair. At first, the shame was too great; he hesitated, looking away, unable to meet my gaze. But upon my gentle insistence, the dam broke. He opened up, and as he began to weep over his helplessness, recounting the trajectory of his ruin, my own eyes welled up with tears. He told me how he had fallen prey to the silent, invisible addiction of online gambling. He described it as axing his own feet, rendering himself incapable of moving forward in life. In the virtual casinos on his phone, he had not only squandered his money but had also lost his peace of heart, his dignity, and his social connections. Tranquility had vanished from his life. To cope with the anxiety of debt and loss, he had become an easy victim of chain-smoking, inhaling tobacco smoke in a desperate, futile attempt to forget his ruin for a few fleeting seconds.
His condition is dire, but he is not an anomaly. He is a symptom of a much larger, darker malaise spreading through our communities. The most pressing question we must ask ourselves is: what are the socio-economic and psychological drivers causing young, promising people like him to fall prey to the allure of online betting?
The first catalyst is a pervasive culture of idleness. In our contemporary society, we are witnessing a disturbing trend where individuals are becoming victims of their own lethargy. We have become experts not only in physical laziness but, more dangerously, in leaving our mental faculties rusting and unused. When a generation becomes intimately attached to idleness, and this collides with the harsh reality of rampant inflation, the result is a desperate search for shortcuts. Determining a path that requires less hard work but offers the illusion of massive income becomes a necessity for the idle mind. The gambler wants to earn easy money, betting from the comfort of their home, believing they can outsmart an algorithm designed to defeat them. This marks the beginning of an unending chain of mental and physical illnesses, gradually engulfing the entire society in a trap from which escape seems impossible.
The second, and perhaps more systemic reason, is the scourge of unemployment. This crisis has affected every stratum of our society. We are caught in a pincer movement: on one side, skyrocketing inflation makes daily survival a struggle; on the other, the lack of gainful employment strips our youth of hope. Drugs and gambling are effectively different manifestations of unemployment. When a person fails to meet their basic life needs through honest labor, the pressure forces them toward the “wrong path.” They view gambling not as a vice, but as a lifeline—a potential exit strategy from poverty that slowly descends into a pit of absolute ruin.
The third factor is the company one keeps. The old adage remains true: man is a product of his environment. The atmosphere in which a person grows up significantly impacts their mental makeup, far more than we care to admit. The company of anti-social elements leads inevitably to destruction. We must pray for protection from environments where gatherings of thugs, gamblers, and hustlers are normalized. Today, digital assemblies of gamblers are synonymous with inviting ruin. It is in these very gatherings—whether physical tea shops or online chat groups—that one gets addicted to new forms of betting. It is a sticky web; an addiction that cannot be shaken off even when the victim desperately wants to leave.
The fourth, and perhaps most infuriating reason, is the aggressive promotion of gambling by famous personalities. A few days ago, while watching an IPL cricket match, I was appalled to see how revered figures from Bollywood and the cricketing world were shamelessly promoting online gambling apps. These so-called celebrities, who act as role models for millions, are enticing innocent minds toward financial suicide. Gradually, the whole society gets caught in this trap. Who will hold these unscrupulous icons accountable? They are consciously and unconsciously sowing the seeds of deviance and sin in society. While they race to provide elite education and secure futures for their own children, they prey upon the helplessness of ordinary people, attacking their life savings to fund their own lavish lifestyles. It is a betrayal of public trust of the highest order.
The fifth and final reason is the societal encouragement of gamblers. We have become a people so devoid of foresight that we crown lucky gamblers with glory. In our social media feeds, a person who wins crores through online gambling receives acclaim, validation, and envy. Seeing this, others abandon their honest work, download these applications, and retreat into a fantasy world where they too are millionaires. We should die of shame for glorifying luck over labor. In today’s times, people are staking their family’s meager savings, intoxicated by the thrill. They beat their chests against inflation with one hand while wasting crores on online platforms with the other, descending into dark valleys of anxiety. It is like a house that has been turned into a heap of ashes by its own lamp.
The consequences of this collective sin are becoming terrifyingly evident. As seen in the plight of the young man from my village, the number of people boarding this sinking boat increases daily. The result is a sharp increase in social evils and the implosion of countless households. Incidents of murder related to debt are rising. Relationships are decaying under the strain of financial secrecy. Theft is increasing as addicts seek to fund their next bet. Mental illnesses are skyrocketing. The very roots of our society are weakening. The thread of trust that bound us all together has almost snapped, replaced by an environment of fear and suspicion. The footsteps of death are audible every moment. Peace of heart has ended, the light in our eyes has dimmed, and sleep has vanished from our lives. A scene of pervasive sadness prevails, making it seem as though humanity itself has ended.
Before it is too late, we must mobilize to stop this storm. If we continue on this path, the day is not far when our homes will resemble graveyards of ambition. It is the responsibility of every conscious member of society to intervene. From educational institutions to religious bodies, there is a need to play a prominent, aggressive role in this regard.
Furthermore, promoting the concept of Bait-ul-Maal (a public treasury for welfare) has become an urgent need of the hour. Supporting the poor is no longer just charity; it is an act of worship and a social safeguard. We must deal a crushing blow to the root of this sin by supporting the destitute not just temporarily, but by finding ways to support them for a lifetime, ensuring they do not have to hold out their hands—or turn to gambling apps—for survival.
Keeping the gravity of the situation in mind, I conclude with a desperate appeal to the government: please, turn your attention to the young men trapped in this digital quicksand. Ban the ads, regulate the apps, and provide rehabilitation. Our condition is going from bad to worse, and without intervention, we risk losing an entire generation to the roll of a virtual dice.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of this Magazine.
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