The headline reads:
Playing chess is more sinful than gambling: Muslim televangelist
Back when I was playing over-the-board, I’m not sure that my chess was sinful, but it was at the least disgraceful. 
During the Middle Ages the Church sometimes frowned on chess. It was not only because it was often involved with gambling over results. Priests, monks, and even bishops were chastised for spending inordinate amounts of time playing chess rather than conducting their church duties. While the nobles brought the game of chess that they learned from the Muslims back from the Middle East after the Crusades to play in their leisure, it was the more literate class, church officials, who were the avid players of the game in western Europe.
This was discussed here a year or so ago regarding one of the Islamic country’s national chess team, I think. Saudi Arabia?