> the utility of gambling (the expected return over time) is negative, and the utility of investment is positive. No, actually, if you include non-monetary ben

> the utility of gambling (the expected return over time) is negative, and the utility of investment is positive. No, actually, if you include non-monetary benefits, both expected utilities (gambling and insurance) are positive (at least if the gambler is rational and only bets amounts that are more than compensated for by the entertainment value involved), but if you don't, if you only consider monetary costs and benefits, both expected utilities (gambling and insurance) are negative. So insurance is not an investment in the financial sense, where the expected monetary utility alone is supposed to be positive.