Hisbah Vows To Begin Raid On Betting Shops

Following a gambling ruling by the Supreme Court, Islamic morality police (Hisbah) in Kano State will once again raid betting establishments.
On Friday, the Nigerian Supreme Court struck down a 2005 law that legalized gambling and sports betting and created a national lottery commission.
The court decided that state governments should regulate gambling.
Kano State is one of 12 states in Nigeria with a large Muslim population that apply both federal law and Islamic sharia.
In an interview with AFP, Abba Sufi, the Kano Hisbah’s director general, stated,

 “We will resume our clampdown on betting shops with renewed determination since betting is illegal under Kano state sharia law.

“With this verdict, the controversy on who should be in charge of lottery legislation between the federal government and state governments has been settled.

“We in Kano have frowned at the lottery law… because it gave legal backing to gambling which is clearly prohibited in Islam.”

According to Sufi, the raids followed repeated complaints by parents of children whose love of football teams had led them into gambling.

“And the harsh economic climate is pushing more people into this football gambling, hoping to make easy money and becoming hooked to the vice,” Sufi argued.

The largest city in northern Nigeria, Kano, is home to the Hisbah, a state unit that enforces Sharia law.
Hisbah agents raided and shut down dozens of football betting establishments throughout the city last month, claiming that they were encouraging gambling, which is forbidden by sharia.
Following the National Lottery Commission’s protest that football betting was permitted by Nigerian federal law under the 2005 Lottery Act, raids were stopped, according to Sufi.