Short answer
Yes. A lottery is gambling: you pay for a ticket for a chance to win money paid in by others. State lotteries, Powerball, scratch cards and office lottery pools are all haram, and the four schools agree. If you have won, the winnings are not yours to keep.
Buying lottery tickets is haram as qimar. Since the people who paid in cannot be traced, winnings must be given to the poor without the intention of reward. Selling lottery tickets in a shop is also not permitted.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
Every lottery has the same shape: many people pay, and a few win the money the others lost, by pure chance. That is the definition of qimar. It does not change the ruling if the state runs it, if the profits fund schools, or if you only play now and then. The Quran says of gambling that its sin is greater than its benefit (2:219).
If you have already won:
- Do not use the money for yourself or your family.
- Give it to the poor without the intention of reward, since Allah accepts only what is pure. It does not count as zakat or sadaqah.
- Repent and stop buying tickets.
Related cases:
- Scratch cards and instant win games are the same as the lottery.
- Office or family lottery pools are the same, shared between more people.
- Premium Bonds and prize-linked savings accounts pay prizes drawn from a pool of interest instead of paying interest to each saver. The mainstream Hanafi view is that they are not permitted.
- Free sweepstakes with no purchase needed are not gambling. See Are raffles haram?
The dream of sudden wealth is what lotteries sell. Allah promises provision from where you do not expect to those who fear Him (65:2 to 3); see Quran verses about rizq.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-Maaida 5:90
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْخَمْرُ وَٱلْمَيْسِرُ وَٱلْأَنصَابُ وَٱلْأَزْلَٰمُ رِجْسٌۭ مِّنْ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنِ فَٱجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾
O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than Allah], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.
The lottery is a form of gambling.
Quran, Surah Al-Baqara 2:219
۞ يَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَنِ ٱلْخَمْرِ وَٱلْمَيْسِرِ ۖ قُلْ فِيهِمَآ إِثْمٌۭ كَبِيرٌۭ وَمَنَٰفِعُ لِلنَّاسِ وَإِثْمُهُمَآ أَكْبَرُ مِن نَّفْعِهِمَا ۗ وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ مَاذَا يُنفِقُونَ قُلِ ٱلْعَفْوَ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴿٢١٩﴾
They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, "In them is great sin and [yet, some] benefit for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit." And they ask you what they should spend. Say, "The excess [beyond needs]." Thus Allah makes clear to you the verses [of revelation] that you might give thought.
Good causes funded by a lottery do not make it lawful.
Sahih al-Bukhari 4860
Sahih... ومن قال لصاحبه تعال أقامرك فليتصدق ...
"Whoever says to his companion, Come, let me gamble with you, let him give charity."
Gambling in any form is a sin.
Sahih Muslim 1015
Sahih... إن الله طيب لا يقبل إلا طيبا ...
"Allah is pure and accepts only what is pure."
Lottery winnings are given away to be rid of them, not as rewarded charity.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibaha, on qimar. The definition of qimar that covers lotteries.
- Fatawa Mahmudiyya, Chapter on qimar (gambling). Lotteries and prize bonds are treated as gambling.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.