4 ms·
In my limited experience as somebody whose friends and family are all pretty well educated and pretty well off (for better or for worse, I work at a big tech co
by mycologos 3y ago
In my limited experience as somebody whose friends and family are all pretty well educated and pretty well off (for better or for worse, I work at a big tech company), gambling seems pretty class-specific.
I don't know anybody who gambles, on betting or crypto, and only a small number who even pick individual stocks. Some people play poker, but only for nominal sums, and it's usually presented as more of an intellectual exercise. I get the sense that if somebody said they like sports betting, it would produce a half-second awkward glitch in a conversation. I doubt anybody would moralize, but there might be an unspoken question like "[you gamble? don't you have more fulfilling things to do?]"
The simple answer here is probably that if you already have enough money then you don't need to gamble, but it's not like most people who gamble actually believe it's the path to profit, it seems like there's something else here where gambling is viewed as low-status (in my bubble).
- manthedudeguy 3y ago[dead]
- HeyLaughingBoy 3y agoThere are extremely wealthy people out there gambling on horse races.
- SJC_Hacker 3y agoThat's mostly about pride in their own abilities to "pick the right horse" than to any genuine desire or expectation they will make money. Either that, or its because the race was fixed.+
- psunavy03 3y agoInvesting in stocks != gambling. The market is not a casino.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 3y agoWho's doing to tell 'em?
- dmoy 3y agoI don't think OP was saying it is, exactly. They seemed to me to say that betting and crypto are gambling, and that picking individual stocks is kinda close. Which isn't exactly wrong - if you're a retail investor who isn't using satellite footage of parking lots, picking individual stocks is closer to gambling. Investing in the aggregate is less gambling.
- margalabargala 3y agoAn even more apt analogy, is that investing in individual stocks, is akin to sports betting in a lot of ways. Investing in the stock market as a whole is just betting the game will be played.
- mfru 3y agoInvesting in stocks is definitely akin to gambling. With individual stocks, you are just betting on horses. With hedging, you are betting on economic sectors (which can be as large as the whole world economic system) growing infinitely. And regarding systems growing infinitely in limited environments, I have some bad news for you. Some would call them cancerous.
- fragmede 2y agoIn our era of meme stocks, yes it is. You can talk about fundamentals all you want, but unless you have a model that correctly models the performance of NVDA, GME, TSLA, and DJT, it's gambling.
- nunez 2y agoSPACs and BBY angrily enter the chat
- rm_-rf_slash 3y agoI have a wealthy and successful friend who loves sports betting, usually places bets in the hundreds-to-thousands range. Calls it “Monopoly money.” My impression is that it’s a scoring system for competition with his (wealthy and successful) siblings; the dollar values are an afterthought.
- bwing1 3y agoYeah, that's bubble-specific, not class-specific. I think the most successful of the younger professionals I know are most likely to gamble on sports -- it's an excuse for an active group chat, it's something to talk with random people about, and the actual amounts you bet are easy to make trivial relative to income. Very networking-forward hobby. (Also, it's obviously as much an intellectual exercise to gamble on sports as it is to play poker.) Broadly, though sports in particular is something different bubbles care more or less about, I'd say your perspective is entirely foreign to me. My experience is that the more intelligent groups I'm around are vastly more interested in predicting things and putting money behind their predictions.
- trogdor 3y ago>it's obviously as much an intellectual exercise to gamble on sports as it is to play poker I think this is wrong. The most skilled poker player at the table has an edge and is likely to win over time. I don’t think there is a similar thing in sports betting.
- tim333 2y agoThere are definitely professional sports bettors who have an edge and win over time. I'm not sure it's always that hard as most bettors bet on the team they like without calculating the odds.
- lamp_book 3y agoThere is, but if you consistently win, they’ll stop taking your bets. And there’s limited options for who will take your bet. Granted, cash poker is all about sitting at the right table. It’s really the poker tournament structure that legitimizes it.
- nunez 2y agoIf anything, gambling is a great class equalizer, just like the NYC subway. Rich people gamble. Poor people gamble. Everyone can get hooked; casinos are great at that!