Stock investing or Sports betting

Discussion in 'Trade Journals & Stock Tips' started by JaydonTyler, May 28, 2014.

  1. MillionsMercury

    MillionsMercury Member

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    Sports betting is a lot of fun and you get the results right away, but I have to agree with some of the other posters here and say that sports betting is riskier than stock markets. Also, if you do sports betting for a long period of time, you tend not to make much profit overall in the long end of things. It is really just more of a fun thing. In my opinion, stocks, though not without their own risks, are a safer option. I would not consider sports betting to be an investment but something fun that can potentially make you money.
     
  2. ScooterBrandon

    ScooterBrandon Senior Investor

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    Stocks are buying ownership of a company, you make money by either the company paying you back profits or selling your stake for more than you bought it.
    Sports betting you are playing against a "house," guessing which sports teams will win or lose by a certain # of point. A profit has been built into the #'s by the house.
    I don't for the life of me see how one is like the other. Sports betting is 100% gambling.
     
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  3. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    Agreed. Big difference.
     
  4. SteakTartare

    SteakTartare Senior Investor

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    Apples and oranges. With stock investments you can build real wealth. Sports bettering is risky and odds are you won't build wealth over time. It is also illegal in most jurisdictions.
     
  5. MoneyFiend

    MoneyFiend Member

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    If you are familiar with the sport and confident with your thoughts then sports betting can definitely be looked at as an investment. Both have good potential and both have dangerous risks. I myself would prefer to bet on a sport over investing in a random stock I have no knowledge about.
     
  6. Sandra

    Sandra Active Member

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    Just as you mentioned sports betting vs. stock investing, I started thinking about how similar the two are. I've always known that betting is a form of gambling. Now I'm thinking if stock investing could really be likened to gambling. If not, how could we differentiate the two?
     
  7. JR Ewing

    JR Ewing Super Moderator Staff Member

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    There is always risk with any investment. But buying stocks of good companies in a well-diversified portfolio for the long term is far different than betting money on whether Cleveland will beat Dallas by how much on Sunday or whatever.
     
  8. moneyman

    moneyman Well-Known Member

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    There is always a risk in every kind of investment and I don't consider sports betting as an investment - it is gambling. Either you win or either you lose and there is only handful of people making living with sports betting.
     
  9. anders

    anders Well-Known Member

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    I "trade" on sports markets such as Betfair and Betdaq (these are not available in the US due to gambling regulations, I understand), and I don't see it as a gamble in the traditional sense of placing a bet on the outcome of an event. You trade the market structure just like you would any other market, like FOREX, commodities or the NYSE. The only difference is that each market is time limited to that event - so, 90 mins for a soccer match, or a couple of hours for a tennis game. There's massive opportunity in these markets if you approach it the same way you would approach day trading. I've actually shifted the volume of trades I'd make day trading to these sports markets now, along with other long term stock market positions. All part of my ongoing "diversification" program.....
     
  10. remnant

    remnant Well-Known Member

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    I would prefer sports betting to the stock market.This is due to the fact that the minimum investment required in the stock market is high as compared to the stock market. Another fact is that in sports betting, there are only a few possibilities which are definite as opposed to the stock market where volatility is the rule of the day.
     

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