If football is Legal in most countries why is Gambling Prohibited

[Wiwo]

The game of football is one of the most celebrated and loved sports around the world and most countries have an official football team, which gives the game legal backing because the government and competition organizers make a huge budget for these games. But what baffles me is football is the highest gambling around the world but yet it is seen as legal meanwhile gambling is illegal in some of those countries and I can't stop to wonder what an irony this has become.
What is gambling?
According to Wikipedia:

This makes more points clearer or am I missing something?

[ethereumhunter]

That is because football is one of the sports, while gambling is prohibited or allowed will depend on each country's laws. If your country allows gambling, people can bet on football but vice versa. It is related to the regulations from the country but we know that many countries have underground gambling bases which allow people to gamble on every sport they want. This activity is hidden from the government, regulators, or even police, but they will find it if they can dig in many places.

Gambling itself means you use the money to choose one thing that will become the winner. But sometimes, you can predict the score accurately and those who can predict with the right are the winner.

[aioc]

The game of football is one of the most celebrated and loved sports around the world and most countries have an official football team, which gives the game legal backing because the government and competition organizers make a huge budget for these games. But what baffles me is football is the highest gambling around the world but yet it is seen as legal meanwhile gambling is illegal in some of those countries and I can't stop to wonder what an irony this has become.

This makes more points clearer or am I missing something?

Plain common sense, football is a sport where team battles for excellent teamwork and perseverance, and fans attach their feelings to a team as a  sign of loyalty and fulfillment of human passion of sense of belonging, they just attach gambling to sports because it's part of human interest to bet as a show of confidence to the team they are supporting, football can exist without gambling if a country doesn't allow it.

[Bitinity]

I have no idea why you can say that football is the highest gambling around while it is a type of sports. Is it because sports betting contains so many football markets? Imo football and gambling are two big different thing and we cant compare them in terms of its legality. Money and risk are indeed involved in football and any other sports but it cant be considered as gambling. I would say football these days is combination of sports and business instead of gambling.

[rijaljun]

Football is not a gambling but according to the description the winner is uncertain and it was a good opportunity to have a bet on it, I don't think it is prohibited but just strict after all gambling is one of the highest income of the government. What the government is to have a legal operating gambling service and some prohibits others since it is under their law or jurisdiction. 

[delfastTions]

Football is not a gambling but according to the description the winner is uncertain and it was a good opportunity to have a bet on it, I don't think it is prohibited but just strict after all gambling is one of the highest income of the government. What the government is to have a legal operating gambling service and some prohibits others since it is under their law or jurisdiction. 

I’ll also add that I can’t imagine that someone became a gamer, lost all family property, or even committed suicide from a passion for football.  Unfortunately for gamers who are born gambling is not such a rarity.  And many suffering relatives because of one such gamer.  This is where governments come in, which respectively prohibit or allow gambling. 
And in many countries there are completely different policies in relation to gambling and regulation of this type of profitable business. 
Well, football - what should be regulated here? 
Nothing but the violent behavior of football fans.  And even then this is the case of the police at the venue of the matches.

[paxmao]

I fail to see the link. Gambling is about staking money on a prediction, it can be anything and there are many countries and even religions or philosophical schools that would advise against such an activity. Playing a sport just for fun does not qualify as such at all, it is just a competition that can be played to prove and increase your skills and enjoy a peaceful time with others (not talking about professional).

To be honest, in those countries in which betting is not allowed, I would ask if investing in the stock exchange is allowed. You can use that as a gambling platform.

[rlubackij]

The game of football is one of the most celebrated and loved sports around the world and most countries have an official football team, which gives the game legal backing because the government and competition organizers make a huge budget for these games. But what baffles me is football is the highest gambling around the world but yet it is seen as legal meanwhile gambling is illegal in some of those countries and I can't stop to wonder what an irony this has become.
What is gambling?
According to Wikipedia:
https://i.ibb.co/8KCnwFN/Screenshot-2022-0127-105732.png
This makes more points clearer or am I missing something?

I think it is related to the risks that each gambler is exposed to. If you are simply watching a football game, you don't have risks (we don't take into consideration the risks of the heart attack that you can have when your favorite team is losing:)). But if you are betting on a match, you are exposed to risks.

[robelneo]

I fail to see the link. Gambling is about staking money on a prediction, it can be anything and there are many countries and even religions or philosophical schools that would advise against such an activity. Playing a sport just for fun does not qualify as such at all, it is just a competition that can be played to prove and increase your skills and enjoy a peaceful time with others (not talking about professional).

To be honest, in those countries in which betting is not allowed, I would ask if investing in the stock exchange is allowed. You can use that as a gambling platform.

I also can't figure out how it will link football very much the in the same category of gambling, you can have football in a country where gambling is illegal, but you cannot gamble in a country where football is popular but gambling is illegal, or you can have both, football is a physical sport and government encourage them for their people to become healthy through sports, it became popular on gambling platform because of the two teams competing, and you can introduce betting in a spider game, I don't see the similarity, OP is very imaginative having it in the same category.  

[YOSHIE]

meanwhile gambling is illegal in some of those countries and I can't stop to wonder what an irony this has become.

The reason is simple (the basis of religious evidence that makes gambling prohibited), in some countries, although, followers of certain religions are football lovers in general, for example: football lovers in Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia etc.

That's why gambling in certain countries is prohibited, even the majority of the population/government in that country football is included in the legal of the country, even though gambling is prohibited, I bet they are also involved in gambling secretly, you will understand what I mean.

So, in this topic question, i think gambling and football should be separated, the problem is very much different, even though people really like soccer betting.

[Wiwo]

Football is a game which big or small can play that doesn't have any effect. If gambling should be legal it will affect the young people coming up that is why gambling is restricted in many countries.  There can be a reason though.

Football being a game for all ages is the sports side of it which is good for recreational purposes but when you talk about competition and tournament where the team is playing for the price and fans are interested in the wining of the bets, that's the angle am looking at it from taking Fifa, UEFA Champions League, and other local and international football competitions, for example, it's all gambling because the teams are playing for the price.

[RapTarX]

Both are totally two different things you are talking about. Football is a sport for entertainment while gambling is something else. These both doesn't depend on one to another. You can gamble with other sports if you don't gamble with football. Football will still be there if gamble isn?t. Therefore, I guess your point has no sense/point.

[swogerino]

Football is not the most widely wagered on and gambled upon.In fact slot machines and lately dice are the most widely played games,sure football is the most wagered sport that people gamble on but not the highest wagered game of all of them.It has nothing to do with gambling,football is a normal sport that every body loves it (well most people in the world like it but not every one) and is cheered in stadiums.In fact today I will go to see my team in the cup in the country I live in now and enjoy the game without betting on my team.

Countries which prohibit gambling,prohibit all kind of gambling and not only sport betting but they do not prohibit sports which is different and what you ask is not related to each other as you are wrongly supposing here.

[naira]

The first thing we need to say is that football is a sport where they don't just bet on clubs. There are countries they represent to give the players a reputation as the pride of their country. Another difference is the nature of gambling itself, which means that games in casinos that do not belong to the category of sports are considered as individual interests and do not involve or act on behalf of institutions, companies and even certain countries.

[michellee]

Football is one of the popular sports among the other sports and many people know that. So the government and the organizers allow football to have a special for their audience because that can attract many football lovers to watch.

But I wonder why football is the highest gambling around the world. Is that because of the popularity? Or is that because many countries have a live show for the special events for football? But football is not gambling as the coach will manage strategy by placing the right player on his team so his chance to win will increase.

[Jawhead999]

Because football is sport just like other sport e.g. American football, boxing, basketball, tennis etc. Technically to play football doesn't need any money except buy a ball, why playing football should be prohibited? Does it harm anyone? I don't think so.

While gambling is betting, mostly it's prohibited due to religions and addictions. I can't say to much about religions, while addictions there're a lot people who got addicted become worst day by day since he want to recover his loss but ended rekt.

[famososMuertos]

Well in general sports-bet have spread as something so trivial that there is a tendency to think that any game (football) is to go look for the odds and put the money. BUT in any event your solution is simple, if you can not bet then respect you country's laws.

There is no correlation between the laws that have to approve sports betting for the simple fact of being football a sport.

[Dewi Aries]

Because football is sport just like other sport e.g. American football, boxing, basketball, tennis etc. Technically to play football doesn't need any money except buy a ball, why playing football should be prohibited? Does it harm anyone? I don't think so.

While gambling is betting, mostly it's prohibited due to religions and addictions. I can't say to much about religions, while addictions there're a lot people who got addicted become worst day by day since he want to recover his loss but ended rekt.

This is the important point the government has considered from various sides so decided to ban it , if indeed this activity is more profitable for gamblers
the government will not prohibit it but the fact is the opposite more loss than gain. in some areas the government provides a special place for gambling and most are casinos not sports betting.

[FatFork]

The truth is, there aren't that many countries where sports betting is forbidden. From what I know, only about a dozen countries restrict sports betting to the fullest extent. These countries include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Cambodia, Cyprus, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, North Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, UAE, and Vatican City. There are various reasons why these countries have explicitly banned gambling activities by law. In some of them, it is considered sinful and forbidden due to religious reasons, whereas others have an implied morality to consider. A second reason countries choose to make sports betting illegal is because they cannot track all money transactions so they fear losing large amounts in tax revenue.

[acroman08]

-snip

would you mind elaborating when you said "the highest gambling around"? are you saying that because football is a gamble because of the uncertain outcome of who is gonna win? I am really confused as to why you are comparing Football(which is a sport) and gambling.