This is only true for those who are not impacted, in this case, by a government shutdown.
For example, suppose you’re running a company that has won a government contract and you receive scheduled payments from them. You use the payments to pay your suppliers and employees. If you don’t pay your suppliers and employees on time it causes all kinds of problems.
If the government looks like they might delay their next payment to you, you can “buy insurance” so that you can still make the payments. Is this gambling? Maybe? But if you don’t gamble there are real consequences, so “not playing” is still “gambling”.
For example, suppose you’re running a company that has won a government contract and you receive scheduled payments from them. You use the payments to pay your suppliers and employees. If you don’t pay your suppliers and employees on time it causes all kinds of problems.
If the government looks like they might delay their next payment to you, you can “buy insurance” so that you can still make the payments. Is this gambling? Maybe? But if you don’t gamble there are real consequences, so “not playing” is still “gambling”.