Major differences between investment and gambling.

[Rruchi man]

A major misconception among gamblers is that gambling is sometimes considered as an investment and investment as gambling.
The purpose of this discourse is to clear the air and state some of the major differences between investing and gambling.
Some differences are;
(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.
(b) There is a medium to long term planning in view, whereas in gambling, the returns is in view is short term.
(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.
(d) The motive behind investing is safety of capital and stability of one's returns, while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

______________
You can add your own differences.
 

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[BitcoinGirl.Club]

(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.

When I am placing a bet with an odd of 10 it's gambling and when I am placing a bet with an odd of 1.01 is still gambling, but chances to win 1.01 is much higher than chances of winning an odd of 10. If one can control their greed and take gambling as an investment then there are scopes to make money but with gambling not many people can do that. With that, there are limits in the casinos.

(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.

Without any analysis, doing homework, proper knowledge both forms are risky. For example if you trade your bitcoin in this bull market then you may see you are winning but if the price starts to fall and if you do not have a Stop Loss then you may lose your investment in few hours.

[Fortify]

I don't think it is easy to quantify or qualify investing in the way you want to do it. Some investments can be gambling, and some gambles very much resemble investing. If a football team is ahead by 3 goals and you are able to get a small return on your bet - then could that not be considered investing? What about if you have a company who buys some land expecting to strike oil and you buy expecting them to find something within a short time frame? While people too often get mixed up between the terms, it seems the mindset and mathematical probability are a greater indicator of success. Whether you are buying property, precious metals, trading currency, or buying fine wine expecting it to appreciate in value - they can all be considered risky in different aspects. The best thing to do, is stop trying to classify it into a neat little box and just try to educate people on what constitutes good value.

[mu_enrico]

If the result is mainly based on chance = gambling.
If the result is because of many variables, such as GDP, firm performance, supply-demand, etc. = investment.
Yep, investment has risks, but we cannot exactly measure the risk as it's only a mathematical approach to quantify the unknown.

From a more philosophical view, the purpose of investment is to grow and earn more, while in gambling, the only thing that can grow is your misery. lol

[romero121]

With investment the return is promised. This means, if you've made your investment on a much expected project surely you'll get back the profit in the short or long term. All you need is the patience to enjoy the profit, because we don't know when things gonna progress.

With gambling we'll get immediate results. Some users stated gambling gives rewards as the risk we take. This is not true, because for a $1 profit sometimes we risk $100. This is why gambling is mentioned risky and there is no big reward out of gambling for the risk taken.

[pinggoki]

Many people says that investing is just like gambling, but all of us are wrong because investing is where you are putting your money in an investment and expecting a good return more likely to gambling that you are also expecting a good return it may be long-term or short-term investment. While gambling is that where you are also risking your money that is possible to lose and you are expecting a big return in a short time span, due to this investment and gambling are different but also some same concepts when regards to risking your money.

[madnessteat]

~snip~

Gambling has a certain time frame which varies from game to game. When investing, you set your own time frame, so the risks in this regard are much lower. Risks increase due to the fact that you need to constantly study the market and diversify your investment portfolio.

[Nadziratel]

It was an interesting thread.
I think the difference between investment and gambling is really big.
Yes, when we look at it, the luck factor is at work. You also have to trust someone from outside on both issues. One to the platform gambling and the other to the platform on which you invest.

But still, investment is a field that has a logic and certain dynamics.
Gambling is a win / lose method based on luck and trust.

Investments have always made more sense to me.

[harizen]

Since it's about "point of view" and if you are looking for references, here are some of the related threads you can look at:

Trading, gambling and binary options. Which one you prefer?
★ Gambling vs Forex vs Crypto Trading ★
Gambling vs. "leveraged" trading
Trading vs Gambling

[Oasisman]

Both gamblers (sports betting except dice, roulettes, and anything that's based on pure luck) and investors needs to analyze and research before putting their money in.
But, investor has a lot of options to mitigate the possible losses with their investment, than gamblers who always leaves no choice when your team losses, there's nothing you can do but to let go of your money. Whereas, investors have always had the choice to hold on to your stock or crypto and wait till it booms again.

Another key difference between these two is that;
When you invest into something that means you own something, whether a real estate, stock, crypto, etc.
While in gambling you own absolutely nothing but only the money you used to gamble.

[goinmerry]

...while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

Disagree here.

Tell that to professional gamblers that treat gambling as their secondary source of resources.

That mindset of gambling for fun is the reason why there are lots of casual gamblers who loses much on the run. Too much confidence that every loss can afford without realizing that they are now losing much overall in the long run.

[Hippocrypto]

A major misconception among gamblers is that gambling is sometimes considered as an investment and investment as gambling.
The purpose of this discourse is to clear the air and state some of the major differences between investing and gambling.
Some differences are;
(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.
(b) There is a medium to long term planning in view, whereas in gambling, the returns is in view is short term.
(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.
(d) The motive behind investing is safety of capital and stability of one's returns, while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

______________
You can add your own differences.
 

Both are of them involves risk, and when it says investments of course that pertains to a project or with a trading of specific asset. But, when it comes to gambling? Most of the idea comes at betting and no assurance because you're only expecting a luck from that game. Though in sports betting, we're relying on odds of every team who played your favorite sports.
Ideally, a form of entertainment when you're engaging yourselves with gambling not on investments which is only focused with business mindset who expects more profit from risked capital.

[South Park]

A major misconception among gamblers is that gambling is sometimes considered as an investment and investment as gambling.
The purpose of this discourse is to clear the air and state some of the major differences between investing and gambling.
Some differences are;
(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.
(b) There is a medium to long term planning in view, whereas in gambling, the returns is in view is short term.
(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.
(d) The motive behind investing is safety of capital and stability of one's returns, while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

______________
You can add your own differences.
 

The first point that you bring about the difference among the expectations of investing and gambling is right but unfortunately there are many people that think of themselves as investors that are looking for incredibly high profits and once they realize that even bitcoin and its fantastic growth will never give them what they want they begin to try to invest in altcoins, which is why many of us think of those people as gamblers and not investors, so as you can see even when you are investing if you do not abide by the rules you can be considered to be gambling.

[abel1337]

A major misconception among gamblers is that gambling is sometimes considered as an investment and investment as gambling.
The purpose of this discourse is to clear the air and state some of the major differences between investing and gambling.
Some differences are;
(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.
(b) There is a medium to long term planning in view, whereas in gambling, the returns is in view is short term.
(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.
(d) The motive behind investing is safety of capital and stability of one's returns, while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

______________
You can add your own differences.
 

Both are of them involves risk, and when it says investments of course that pertains to a project or with a trading of specific asset. But, when it comes to gambling? Most of the idea comes at betting and no assurance because you're only expecting a luck from that game. Though in sports betting, we're relying on odds of every team who played your favorite sports.
Ideally, a form of entertainment when you're engaging yourselves with gambling not on investments which is only focused with business mindset who expects more profit from risked capital.

Every type of earning in crypto has a certain risk in it, We can't deny the risk on crypto and it will depend on the method you are using on how much risk you are facing. Well, luck isn't the only factor in betting, There are strategies, techniques, current emotion, and other big factors that can affect the winning chance on your gambling session.  I agree that investment is more on a business-type model and most certainly safe especially if you have the skills to foresee the project's future with your research and analysis.

[Twinkledoe]

...while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

Disagree here.

Tell that to professional gamblers that treat gambling as their secondary source of resources.

That mindset of gambling for fun is the reason why there are lots of casual gamblers who loses much on the run. Too much confidence that every loss can afford without realizing that they are now losing much overall in the long run.

Most professional sportsbettors treat gambling as their main source of income. Though not all, but a lot of gamblers really do make their gambling as major source of earning money. But for me, I won't consider it as such. Just playing for fun as I don't heavily use my funds for gambling. I diversify it with crypto financial investments like staking.I feel my money is safer in investments than rather put it into gambling. Because for me, I only stop playing once I don't have anymore funds. 

[mindrust]

Investment has some gambling elements too. Just because you are making an investment, doesn't mean that you'll profit from that investment. You buy the shares of a company but that company very well may go bankrupt and make you lose all the money you invested in that company.

The main difference for me is, when you make an investment the chances of making a profit is a lot higher in the long run. It is the exact opposite with gambling. In the long run it is almost guaranteed that you'll lose.

[samcrypto]

If you’re gambler never consider your gambling activities as your investment, because you can lose money right away. You can only consider gambling as investment if you do invest directly on casinos and you’re not a gambler.

Investing on the other hand considered as gambling especially those investors who don’t know what he is doing, they take risk on investing and that what makes it more as a gambling.

There’s no assurance on both of this especially if you invested on cryptomarket and stocks, same thing with gambling because its all about the risk that you’ll take, and this market is very volatile that the prices can change at instant. This is just my simple thoughts about gambling and investing.

[Mr.right85]

Gambling and investments have nothing in common. I don't know how people will make that misconception to even consider gambling as an investment. It might be but, not fir the regular everyday gambler. For the owner of the gambling platform or casino owner and stake holders, it is an investment but should you be a gambling customer, gambling is never an investment. In fact, its a liability. It takes from you even at your best of analysis and as such, your barely at the mercy of what is fated on the games you predict. Investments have a way of being definite about the outcomes but gambling is not.

[Lanatsa]

Gambling can never be considered as an investment except if you do put up money or investment with the house then that's the time would be counted as investment

but if you are just playing on the platform then never ever have these kind of thoughts into your mind because it will really just mess up your financial when
you do tend to play because of having some wrong perception on things.

If you do aim for investment then always cross out gambling on the choices yet there are indeed lots of worthy choice if you are really tending to do that.

[Ryker1]

Gambling can never be considered as an investment except if you do put up money or investment with the house then that's the time would be counted as investment

Well, you have a point here -- gambling is far different from investment, perhaps trading and gambling are considerable because they had the same outcome the risk but that is a different story. How comes you compared investment and gambling which is totally different.
However, I disagree with the letter given by the OP, gambling is not sure if it will give either in a short term or long term, there is no sure about that but if you were lucky enough it will fast double or triple your money in a single snap, likewise, it will wipe out.

[just_Alice]

I  agree that gambling isn't an investment (not in any way!), but there's something in stating that investment is gambling. There's critical thinking, but there are also chances in there. No one can know for sure which assets/businesses/realty, etc. will bring money. People lose a lot of money investing as much as gamblers lose while playing. And the risk in gambling isn't always higher, it all depends on the odds. Someone can only play games with 50/50 chance which won't be riskier, than investments.
And about the motive. I can say, that many people, though it's irrational, view gambling as a way of making money and not entertainment. That's where the addiction comes from...
Though I wonder if continuous investments can also be considered an addiction?

[Hippocrypto]

~snip~
 

~snip~

Every type of earning in crypto has a certain risk in it, We can't deny the risk on crypto and it will depend on the method you are using on how much risk you are facing. Well, luck isn't the only factor in betting, There are strategies, techniques, current emotion, and other big factors that can affect the winning chance on your gambling session.  I agree that investment is more on a business-type model and most certainly safe especially if you have the skills to foresee the project's future with your research and analysis.

Unfortunately some other people didn't realize that they're making gambling as investments, but the reality doesn't coincide on their expectations. They're struggling to beat the system of gambling, the emotions was more stressful compared to business investments because losses was too big than risking your money on business.
At least if you're doing business, there's a chance to recover your capital rather losing everything in betting with gambling.

[ReiMomo]

~snip~
(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.

Whatever it is, they have the same goal to earn profit.
Just like a coin, they had the same risk in the same face but on another side they have different both the same goal, to earn money.
But the good side ion investing is in the long run you will still able to gain profit while gambling there is an expected negative return that will I guess burn out all your money.

That is why we always advise people that should always think to gamble only if they can afford it, not too much pay attention to gambling if you did not have enough time.

[Darker45]

(a) In investing, you expect moderate returns, whereas in gambling, the returns expected are very high and sometimes very ridiculous.

There are as many investment options as there are gambling games. The risks vary. There are investments with low, medium, and high risk but the higher the risk the higher the potential profit. The same goes with gambling.

(b) There is a medium to long term planning in view, whereas in gambling, the returns is in view is short term.

I agree with this. While you can bet on something which could be settled months or even years later, gambling is still generally short-term.
 

(c) There is a risk involved in investment, but the risk is moderate. The risk in gambling is high.

Again, it depends. There are investments with high risk. On the other hand, there are also gambling with low risk.

(d) The motive behind investing is safety of capital and stability of one's returns, while the motive behind gambling is entertainment while making money.

As investment risk varies, the safety of capital also varies. But it is up to you to invest with a low-risk or a high-risk. As with gambling, making money should never be a motive.


If I were to summarize the difference between investing and gambling, I'd say gambling is the opposite of investing. Investing is done to make money while gambling is done to lose it.  

[DoublerHunter]

~snip~
If I were to summarize the difference between investing and gambling, I'd say gambling is the opposite of investing. Investing is done to make money while gambling is done to lose it.  

^ Definitely right, but these two cannot be associated because, for me, investment is way too far from gambling. There are two things that could properly explain their difference. And here they are below:
1. Investment is putting your money into something with security. There might be possible risks, but those risks are addressed and resolved, in the other side, placing bets will never give you any security and agreement form to liquidate your money.
2. Investment can be done with proper planning and studies in order to be profitable, but gambling is for guessing and trying your luck (unless you manipulate it).
I dunno why OP trying to compare this thing.

[AicecreaME]

It would be easier if you specified what investment we are talking to here since they also have different levels of risk like gambling. Let me give an example, let's say you're gonna invest your money in a business (your business), it's doing great on the start but suddenly your number of customers went down after a new business open in your neighborhood therefore your sales went down as well, so the risk is high but it just looked it is low risk but as soon as you lost your customer, it became a high risk.

Now in gambling, let's say DICE, the risk is slow and high. Others want to start risking low by betting small amount high multiplier and the other way around. However, the only difference is that like what OP said, investment is for long term and gambling is for short term.

[iamsheikhadil]

Well, from a customer (or investor) perspective, business is something which is impacted by everything including luck, but that luck plays a very very little role, like, if you put the same effort you may get a profit of x$ today but on same effort it can be y$ tomorrow etc, while in gambling, the whole thing depends on only luck and luck, nothing else, hence it's not to be confused as business at all. You go there and lose money as long as you play and hence, it's not business, rather it's a silent black hole without a event horizon

[shoreno]

i can agree with your b,c,d but for letter a the returns in investment are high because like you said in your letter b , the wait is also long and in gambling the returns arent always high but depending on the gambler if he prefer to play in low odds with more chance of win or he wants high return ( high odds ) but chance to win are harder  .

[ReiMomo]

i can agree with your b,c,d but for letter a the returns in investment are high because like you said in your letter b , the wait is also long and in gambling the returns arent always high but depending on the gambler if he prefer to play in low odds with more chance of win or he wants high return ( high odds ) but chance to win are harder  .

The same on me, I don’t really understand why people think of investment as gambling. Like how the hell did that happen? Or should I say, did they really had an investment once in their life to tell? It is very simple. If you make an investment, you will get an asset. Tangible or non-tangible, it’s still an asset you can liquidate just in case something worst happened. You have the security, you have the rights to use your asset and of course, earn at the same time. So associating it with gambling is non-sense, indeed.

Gambling doesn’t give any assurance, you’ll never get assets once you get your cash in. Just tokens or credits you can use to lose, and only exclusive to be liquidated within your casino platform. Risk is not avoidable, it’s a matter of luck, not chance.

[uneng]

i can agree with your b,c,d but for letter a the returns in investment are high because like you said in your letter b , the wait is also long and in gambling the returns arent always high but depending on the gambler if he prefer to play in low odds with more chance of win or he wants high return ( high odds ) but chance to win are harder  .

The same on me, I don’t really understand why people think of investment as gambling. Like how the hell did that happen? Or should I say, did they really had an investment once in their life to tell? It is very simple. If you make an investment, you will get an asset. Tangible or non-tangible, it’s still an asset you can liquidate just in case something worst happened. You have the security, you have the rights to use your asset and of course, earn at the same time. So associating it with gambling is non-sense, indeed.

Gambling doesn’t give any assurance, you’ll never get assets once you get your cash in. Just tokens or credits you can use to lose, and only exclusive to be liquidated within your casino platform. Risk is not avoidable, it’s a matter of luck, not chance.

People think of investment like gambling because they believe assets can lose value without recovery. It could actually happen, but it's very rare on long run, although past events can't be considered a guarantee for future events. So yes, there are some risks in investment and depending how you see it, you could tell you are *gambling*.
Anyway, assets investments' risks are much lower compared to gambling, especially on long run. If you choose promising niches and diversify your funds the risks are even lower.

[Swopon]

For making investment, definitely we expect a good return. Basically investment is like a business. And everyone expects a profit from their business. Sometimes it disappoints us. By the way, gambling gives you instant result. You don't need to wait a lot for your return whether you will win or lose, the result will be given shortly. Gambling can be your life changer. If you play by $1, you may earn 100x or more. Yes, it is possible.

[michellee]

From the word, gambling and investment are different. If a person thinks that gambling is considered an investment, then that person is wrong because gambling is an activity that needs to spend money to expect to make money. But in fact, they will lose their money in the short or long term, but they can win on the game, which is only if they have luck. But the investment can give you a good return in the short or long term, so you can expect to make a profit plus your initial money to invest in that program.

[molsewid]

Whatever it is, they have the same goal to earn profit.
Just like a coin, they had the same risk in the same face but on another side they have different both the same goal, to earn money.
But the good side ion investing is in the long run you will still able to gain profit while gambling there is an expected negative return that will I guess burn out all your money.

That is why we always advise people that should always think to gamble only if they can afford it, not too much pay attention to gambling if you did not have enough time.

Either earning a profit with the use of investment or trying to earn a money with the use of gambling is the same in their motives and that is to get a coin. Both are risky and I guess the level of difficulty of earning a profit or money was also the smae however the two areas only differ I guess in the perception of people. Investment for me is like a gambling whereas you are not also relying on your skills and knowledge but the flavor of luck was also present.

[South Park]

Investment has some gambling elements too. Just because you are making an investment, doesn't mean that you'll profit from that investment. You buy the shares of a company but that company very well may go bankrupt and make you lose all the money you invested in that company.

The main difference for me is, when you make an investment the chances of making a profit is a lot higher in the long run. It is the exact opposite with gambling. In the long run it is almost guaranteed that you'll lose.

Which brings us to the main difference between gambling an investing which is risk, in gambling you don't decide how much risk you want to take, the risk is defined by the casino and its fixed, there is for the most part no way to give you some kind of an advantage, the only thing that you decide is how much money you want to gamble, but when it comes to investing you decide how much risk you want to take which means that if you take low risk decisions there is a high chance you will do well in the future.

[Twentyonepaylots]

Some games offer 50/50 odds, actually most of them offer such. Investments however, come in all forms of odds of winning and losing. Investing is a process of trial and error, knowing which ones are the best to invest on and the techniques to use is something that you do not learn overnight, whilst of course in gambling, you don't have to learn that much, besides the rules of the game since the view is short term and doesn't apply to multiple scenarios most of the time.