Q&A: Betting According to Jewish Law
Betting According to Jewish Law
Question
As is well known, according to Jewish law it is forbidden to make bets because of gambling with dice.
But I had an idea: if, when two people want to bet, they give the money / the can / whatever they want to a third person, and he gives it to the winner—would that be a reasonable and legitimate solution?
If so, does the transfer of ownership to the third party have to be physical, or can one forgo a formal act of acquisition and simply undertake to give him the sum of money as a gift—or whatever it may be?
Answer
This is a complicated question. One has to distinguish between a prohibition and the fact that no acquisition takes effect, so the contract is invalid and not binding. From the standpoint of the prohibition, this probably would not make a difference, because these are gamblers. From the standpoint of asmachta—that is, the problem with the acquisition—this indeed seems like a reasonable solution. Of course, one could argue that they transferred it to him only because they assumed they would win, and therefore the original transfer to the third person is voided after the loss. But this whole issue of lack of fully settled intent is very puzzling in this context.