{"id":38024,"date":"2024-02-19T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/?p=38024"},"modified":"2024-05-02T10:29:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:29:17","slug":"difference-between-investment-and-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/blog\/difference-between-investment-and-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambling vs Investing: Which Are You Doing & What’s The Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The last few years have seen gambling and investing merge as meme stocks, dogecoin, and tesla options have all blurred the distinction between the two. So what’s the real difference between investment and gambling?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key summary: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investing has been defined as “putting resources into something with the anticipation of future returns.”<\/strong> Whether buying real estate, stock, or bonds, the hope is that they will be worth more in the future, or that you could earn an income stream on these acquisitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This month’s house prices or the next tick of a stock symbol, either up or down, may seem arbitrary. But studies show that aggregate home and stock prices increase over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So in time, with research, asset allocation (not putting too much of your total investment in one place), and keeping investment fees to a minimum, we expect to see investments grow. This is the \u201canticipation of future returns\u201d outlined above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gambling is a bit harder to narrow down. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says it\u2019s the \u201cpractice of risking money or other stakes in a game or bet.\u201d<\/strong> But for our purposes, the best definition is provided by Wikipedia. \u201cGambling is the wagering of something of value, on a RANDOM event, to win something else of value.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n While you anticipate investments to increase in value over time, the bet on red or black on roulette is genuinely random and will always trend towards the built-in house advantage the longer the time frame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When wagering on truly random events like a roulette spin, we expect to see our nest egg decline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, is investing in dogecoin, which has no intrinsic value, gambling? While pooling your resources with a well-heeled blackjack count team, with a clear long-term advantage over the house, investing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certainly, we have seen the gamification of many investment types. The debate over whether buying gold is the same as purchasing bitcoin is ongoing. And day trading and options markets, once reserved for the very experienced and well-financed, are now open to college students with nothing more to invest than a paycheck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This can be seen when taking a look at the number of users of Robinhood – the commission-free trading platform said to appeal to younger and less wealthy investors. Users have spiked across the past 10 years, from 500,000 in 2014 to 23.5 million in 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nGambling <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Can Investments Be Seen As A Gamble?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n