[afiori]

> You've identified a difference in motive between recreational gambling and insurance, not a mechanical difference.

I see also this one as needlessly reductionist. By that logic also taking a day off from work to interview for a new job is gambling.

The difference I gave are also more than just motive. With insurances you are supposed to desire the risky activity (owning an house, booking a trip, driving) independently from the payout, and moreover the transition to insurance in meant to decrease the variation in outcomes. Two characteristic entirely adverse to the nature of gambling.

In a Russian Roulette analogy, gambling is betting money on who wins pushing people to play more and more as the payout increases hoping to leave a winner; insurance is more complex, it is taking an already running game that you had already chosen to play for your own reason with no money involved and introducing a fee that will payout to the loser's family. You are not supposed to want to "win" that bet, actually it is part of the insurer job to make sure of that.

It is still in the category of "financial probabilistic interaction" which is just one of various requirements for gambling.