Investment vs Gambling

Gambling refers to the activity or practice of playing a game of chance for money or other stakes. For example, if you spend some money to buy a lottery tickets then it will be gambling. Here your chance of winning is uncertain. Gambling is for very short period of time. In gambling the profit is very high but the chance of winning is very low. The main objective of gambling is entertainment you. Making profit is secondary objective.

Read also: what is investment?

Some of the main differences between Investment and gambling are given in the table below:

Basis of difference	Investment	Gambling
Meaning	Investment refers to the commitment of fund for long period of time in the real or fixed assets for the expectation of receiving the higher income in the future.	Gambling refers to the practice of investing money in the game of chance for the objective of getting very high profit in very short time period.
Objective	Income and capital appreciation is the main objectives of the investment.	The primary objective of gambling is entertainment. Earning profit is secondary objective.
Analysis of Risk and Return	While investing fund for long time period, risk and returns of the available alternatives are carefully analyzed by considering fundamentals factors.	Gambler does not analyze the risk and return.
Return	There is moderate return in investment.	Very high return.
Risk	Investment create lower risk for the investor because before making investment investor carefully analyzed all the available alternatives in terms of risk and returns.	Very high-risk due to the uncertainty of winning.
Time horizon	Investment is done for long time period.	Very Short.
Use of funds	Own fund is used.	Own fund is used.