Are betting games like Tower Rush and Aviator haram?

If betting has become a struggle for you or someone you love, help is free and confidential: in the US call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738) at any hour, and in Britain call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133. Elsewhere, a doctor or a local gambling-support service can help.

Tower Rush, Aviator, Plinko, and the many “crash” and “instant” games built like them are casino games dressed in the bright colors of phone games. Playing them for real money is gambling (maysir), which is haram by the clear text of the Quran (5:90–91): every round is a stake on chance, and the house pays its winners out of what its losers lose.

What are Tower Rush and Aviator?

Aviator, launched by the studio Spribe in 2018, is the best-known crash game. The player places a bet, a small plane takes off, and the stake is multiplied as the plane climbs. The player must cash out before the plane flies off the screen; whoever is still on board when it leaves loses the bet.

Tower Rush, released by the studio Galaxsys in March 2024, works the same way with a different picture. The player sets a bet and stacks floors on a tower; each floor multiplies the odds, and the player may cash out at any moment or keep building until a collapse takes the bet. Galaxsys lists the game’s return to player at 96.12 to 97 percent, which means that over time the house keeps about three to four of every hundred staked. Plinko games drop a ball through pegs onto a row of multipliers. The pictures change, and the wager stays the same.

Why are crash games haram?

The Quran forbids gambling in the same verse as wine and idolatry:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ إِنَّمَا ٱلۡخَمۡرُ وَٱلۡمَيۡسِرُ وَٱلۡأَنصَابُ وَٱلۡأَزۡلَٰمُ رِجۡسٞ مِّنۡ عَمَلِ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنِ فَٱجۡتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ

“Believers, wine, gambling, idolatrous altars, and divining arrows are a filth from the work of Satan, so keep away from them, that you may prosper.”

Quran 5:90

Maysir is a game in which each player stakes something of value so that the winner takes what the losers lose, and a crash game fits that description in every round. No goods are bought, no work is done, and no gift is freely given. The Quran calls such gain consuming wealth wrongfully:

لَا تَأۡكُلُوٓاْ أَمۡوَٰلَكُم بَيۡنَكُم بِٱلۡبَٰطِلِ إِلَّآ أَن تَكُونَ تِجَٰرَةً عَن تَرَاضٖ مِّنكُمۡ

“Do not consume one another’s wealth wrongfully; let it pass between you through trade by mutual consent.”

Quran 4:29

The Prophet ﷺ forbade sales settled by the throw of a pebble and sales built on excessive uncertainty (gharar) (Sahih Muslim 1513). A Plinko ball that decides your payout by where it lands is the pebble sale in digital dress. He treated even the invitation to gamble as a sin needing atonement: whoever says to a friend, “Come, let me gamble with you,” should give something in charity (Sahih al-Bukhari 4860). The full ruling on betting and the lottery is set out in Is gambling or the lottery haram?

Isn’t it skill if I choose when to cash out?

The choice to cash out feels like control. In a 2023 feature in the trade magazine iGaming Business, Spribe’s chief commercial officer, Giorgi Tsutskiridze, credited Aviator’s pull to its rising multiplier and its social features, such as live chat and leaderboards. The moment the plane leaves or the tower falls belongs to the game’s system, and Galaxsys advertises “provable fairness,” a promise that the result is drawn by chance. That promise is what makes each round a wager.

Real skill would not change the ruling either. The Prophet ﷺ allowed prizes for racing and archery (Sunan Abi Dawud 2574, graded sahih by al-Albani), and the jurists required the prize to come from a sponsor or from one side only; a pot that every contestant pays into is gambling, however skilled the riders. The same reasoning applies to forecasters on prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi.

Are bonuses, free bets, and “earning apps” different?

They are the casino’s marketing. Galaxsys has presented Tower Rush to casino operators as a tool for acquiring new players, carried by streamers, affiliates, and TikTok clips. A deposit bonus or free bet is bait, usually tied to conditions that require more betting before anything can be withdrawn. An app advertised as a way to earn a daily income by playing is a betting app under another label.

Any channel that sells a “predictor” or “signal” for the next crash is either selling a fraud or claiming the game is rigged, and the buyer loses either way. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever cheats is not of me” (Sahih Muslim 102).

Is it haram to play the free demo?

A demo played with no money, and with no chips that can be cashed out, has no stake, so it falls outside maysir, as with poker played for fun (Is playing poker or cards without money haram?). Still, a casino demo exists to lead players to the real-money version and trains the heart to chase the next multiplier, so a believer who feels that pull does best to delete it. Games made for play, enjoyed in moderation, offer the rest the tradition welcomes (Are video games haram?).

What if I have already won or lost money?

• Stop and withdraw what remains of your own money, and close the account.
• Give away the winnings. The majority of scholars advise giving gambling winnings to the poor or to public good, without counting the gift as your own charity.
• Do not chase losses. Money lost is gone, and trying to win it back is how a small loss becomes a debt. Let it go and turn to Allah, who “loves those who turn back to Him” (Quran 2:222).
• Ask for help if you cannot stop. Delete the apps, block the sites, hand control of your cards to someone you trust for a time, and use the helplines above. Compulsive betting is an illness, and seeking treatment is part of faith.

The Quran describes what these games do to the heart:

إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنُ أَن يُوقِعَ بَيۡنَكُمُ ٱلۡعَدَٰوَةَ وَٱلۡبَغۡضَآءَ فِي ٱلۡخَمۡرِ وَٱلۡمَيۡسِرِ وَيَصُدَّكُمۡ عَن ذِكۡرِ ٱللَّهِ وَعَنِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِۖ فَهَلۡ أَنتُم مُّنتَهُونَ

“Satan only wants to stir up enmity and hatred among you through wine and gambling, and to turn you away from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. Will you not then stop?”

Quran 5:91

A game that ends in seconds and starts again at once is built for the next round. The verse’s closing question is an invitation to stop today.

A closing duʿāʾ

ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (may Allah be pleased with him) taught a man struggling to pay for his freedom these words of the Prophet ﷺ, saying that Allah would settle for him a debt the size of a mountain:

«اللَّهُمَّ اكْفِنِي بِحَلاَلِكَ عَنْ حَرَامِكَ وَأَغْنِنِي بِفَضْلِكَ عَمَّنْ سِوَاكَ»

“O Allah, let what You have made lawful be enough for me, so that I need nothing You have forbidden, and by Your bounty free me from need of anyone but You.”

Jami’ al-Tirmidhi 3563, graded hasan by al-Albani

May Allah bless the work of your hands, make the lawful enough for you, and fill the place in your heart that the game was trying to fill.