[shermantanktop]

“Broader economic purpose”?

It’s all betting.

If someone wants to dress it up in jargon or talk about beneficial second order effects, they can. But if putting money on an outcome you can’t control isn’t gambling, I don’t know what is.

[quickthrowman]

Gambling is placing a wager with a negative expected value. If you can gain an edge and have positive EV, it’s not gambling. That’s the distinction between poker and slots. A skilled poker player can take advantage of positive EV positions while slots are programmed to have negative EV. There are traders that have positive EV bets.

[names_are_hard]

Is buying insurance gambling? Is giving your second cousin 100k some money so he can open up is restaurant gambling if you expect a percent of the profits but won't actively be involved in advising him on running the business?

[shermantanktop]

Yes.

[KellyCriterion]

Mh.... is there a difference between "betting" and "gambling" from wording here?