This form of gambling has become more like an epidemic nowadays. It is a big business for newspapers and monthly magazines. Various types and forms of crosswords are published and it is advertised that whoever solves them correctly and encloses a certain amount, when posting it to the company concerned, stands a chance of winning a certain amount of money or a certain prize if, he is the lucky one at the time of the draw.
Some companies fix substantial amounts of cash as the prize money.
As a result, the poor masses, seeing that the entry fee is so small and negligible and there is a chance of winning a substantial amount, enter by the thousands. This is open gambling where a person stakes an amount in this indistinct way that either he loses that amount or wins a substantial amount. This in Sharee'ah is known as gambling. In some monthly magazines this form of gambling has expanded very widely and the income runs into millions. Consequently, the poor become poorer and the rich become richer.