First: The term Fantasy Sports is relatively new and refers to virtual sports (some trace its roots back to the 19th century). These are online games where participants create virtual teams consisting of real-life athletes from various sports. These teams compete based on the statistical performance of the actual players in real games.

Participants earn points in such fantasy games based on how well the athletes they selected perform in real games. This performance is converted into points that are collected according to a list selected by each fantasy team manager. These point systems can be simple enough to be calculated manually by a “league commissioner” who coordinates and manages the overall league, or they can be tracked and calculated using computers that monitor real-world professional sports results. In fantasy sports, much like in real sports, team owners draft, trade, and drop players.

Participants can join leagues, select players, trade them between teams, and manage their roster throughout the season. Fantasy sports cover a wide range of sports, including football, basketball, baseball, and ice hockey. The popularity of fantasy sports has grown significantly, leading to the creation of dedicated platforms, specialized content, and even professional courses for fantasy sports lovers.

Because the nature of playing in these sports is novel and does not involve direct participation but rather relies on predictions, the legal perspective on their classification has varied, leading to two possible descriptions:

1. They are skill-based competitions.
2. They are luck-based competitions, dependent on predictions.

In the first view, they are considered a sport, akin to chess.

In the second view, they are considered a form of gambling, similar to other types of gambling that rely on predictions or the unknown results.

The World Encyclopedia states the following regarding the legal classification of these games:

“Fantasy sports are generally considered a form of gambling, although they are less strictly regulated than other types of sports betting. Unlike traditional sports betting, fantasy sports are generally seen as ‘games of skill,’ not ‘games of chance,’ and are thus exempt from gambling bans and regulations in many jurisdictions.”

Second: As for the ḥukm shar῾ī (Islamic legal ruling), it depends on understanding the nature of the matter. Here are the details:

• If the competition involves participants paying entry fees, and the winning team receives all the money, or the prize is distributed among the top-ranked teams, then this is impermissible, as it is essentially gambling, and gambling is prohibited in Islam.
• If the prize or earnings come from a third party, such as an independent entity organizing the competitions and awarding the prizes, there is a scholarly disagreement regarding its permissibility when it is not one of the activities explicitly mentioned in the ḥadīth where the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “No prize money is to be given except in a race involving camels, horses, or arrows.” [Abū Dāwūd and Al-Tirmidhī].

The Mālikī and Ḥanbalī schools limited the permissibility of competitions to only these three types. The Ḥanafīs added running races and wrestling, citing the Prophet’s race with ῾Aā᾽ishah and his wrestling with Rukānah ibn Yazīd. The Shāfi῾īs, in one opinion, also included competitions involving birds and ships.

According to the four schools of Islamic law, such competitions with prizes are permissible if the prize comes from a third party. If the prize comes from one of the competitors without contribution from the other, the majority of Ḥanafīs, Shāfi῾īs, and Ḥanbalīs permit it, with a similar opinion in the Mālikī school.

• If both participants pay an entry fee but involve a third participant who does not pay a fee, this is based on the principle of introducing a third horse between two horses in a race, where a questionable ḥadīth narrated by Abū Hurayrah from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) says: “Whoever introduces a horse between two horses, and it is not certain that his horse will win, then there is no harm in it; but if it is certain, then it is gambling.”

The difference remains in what types of competitions are permissible:

The majority of the four schools of Islamic law and Ibn Ḥazm restricted it to the types mentioned in the ḥadīth, although they differed on the exact specifics of what is allowed. Some contemporary scholars, with one opinion in the Mālikī school, argued that the types mentioned in the ḥadīth are merely examples, and it is permissible to compete in other activities beyond what was mentioned in the ḥadīth or traditional scholarship, which is likely the correct view, Allāh willing.

Third: If the competition occurs between a Muslim and a non-Muslim in a non-Muslim land, it is permissible according to the Ḥanafī school and some Ḥanbalī scholars, based on the principle that invalid contracts between Muslims and non-Muslims in non-Muslim lands are permissible, including earning from gambling and trading currencies at unequal rates.

Finally, working in this field depends on the ruling we have previously detailed.