Whats the difference in investing on the races and just plain gambling on them.

Can someone answer this rather puzzeling question?

benny

Myself i believe that they are one in the same....there are people that may dissagree.....it is just how you see what you are doing that makes the difference...here is an article i found on the subject that explains it well.

http://www.tomments.com/tomments3a.htm

Investing could be seen, as when one wins .
Gambling could be seen, as when one looses.

Cheers.

__________________
Cheers.

A poor investment is always a gamble, gambling well can be a good investment.

Hi Benny,

Your answer ?

Investing on the races is when you have a massive bank (allow for 500 bets) and you treat "punting professionally"

Gambling on them is having limited resources (small bank) and "hope" that your selection wins this time cause your bank is now seriuosly in trouble (couldnt spell jepordised)

???????????dingo

Benny,

Your just playing with words. All investment is a gamble of some sort. Professionals would say it is more about getting the odds in your favour. But they are just words, the bottom line is the only thing that counts.

I believe it is just a difference in mentality.
People that gamble think they are unlikely to profit.
People that invest think they can profit.
Look at the stock market, look at small businesses. These people are investing time and money into something, just because they are investing does not mean they will profit. In fact most businesses do not.

Then think about the mentality of people at the casino.
I personally will go to the casino with a starting bank of $250 with an aim of winning $150, but prepared to walk out with nothing. I believe I can profit.
How many people set aside say $100 that they are willing to "spend" at the casino. These people gamble, and have no rules. They have decided before they even get there that they will leave with nothing.....

Hi Benny,

Similar to the previous post, this is what I believe is the difference....

All investment is a gamble, be it term deposits with the bank, real estate, shares, racehorse ownership or punting.

The degree of risk is the only thing that makes the difference.

IF you have done your research, and know the odds of making a dollar are in your favour, then this is investing. When the odds are not in your favour, this is gambling.

But there is an element of risk in any financial endeavour.

Punting has long been looked down upon as the worst form of gambling (worst return - most risk), but I don't agree.

I would rather do my research and punt on a horse which is part of a longterm winning system, than buy a house in an area I knew nothing about, or invest in a stock, because it "looks" o.k.

BTW - The worst return is racehorse ownership, unless you have bags of money to build up a solid stable of of well bred horses. Buying one or two horses with good breeding brings lots of joy, but little financial return unless you fluke a champion.

__________________
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Essentially IMO it's all semantics. Gambling? Investing? I personally don't care what term you use to make yourself feel good or use to explain your gambling to others. IMO you should be looking at market inefficiencies (i.e. value) and at the same time realise that punting/gambling, etc are negative return based as opposed to say, the sharemarket which is positive return based. [Stick to what you know, identify inefficiencies in the market (i.e. get value), get the best odds available at the lowest takeout based on your SR and W-L record. Keep accurate records of winning and losing bets (and why they lost)]. This is not to say of course that you can't win betting the horses/sports. You can. I myself use the term gambling and I'm comfortable with that.

Chrome Prince wrote: "All investment is a gamble, be it term deposits with the bank, real estate, shares, racehorse ownership or punting." I have to disagree with this statement. Term deposits are not gambling. You get a positive return on the money invested at the negotiated % rate of your deposit. Real estate and shares are also positive returns based, even if the market flucuates you are still going to come out ahead, unless of course you invested in a dodgy company or house built on a swamp. Racehorse ownership and punting and gambling, plain and simple. They are both negative return "investments."

CP, I thoroughly concur with your arguement about risk. You should weigh up the 'risk' of every "investment" before parting with your green. You wouldn't buy a house without first getting a building inspection, so why should it be any different to buying a parcel of shares or betting on a horse race? The risk of winning MUST outweight the risk of losing. It's that simple.

Fast Eddy, I guess it's all about how one personally chooses to look at various forms of investment.

I have a strategy with the stockmarket, which gives a positive return with limited risk, I also have a strategy with horseracing which gives similar returns with about the same risk. Therefore, for me these are both positive return investments - only a rare longterm disaster could stop this cycle.

Whereas (for me) investing on a stockmarket "tip" or horse "tip" would be gambling. I've seen many people lose a lot of money from bad investments in Building Societies, Shares, and even real estate. This is why I equate the risk with the strategy, not the investment type.

__________________
RaceCensus - powerful system testing software.
Now with over 400,000 Metropolitan, Provincial and Country races!
http://www.propun.com.au/horse_raci...ng_systems.html
*RaceCensus now updated to 30/04/2024
Video overview of RaceCensus here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W821YP_b0Pg