Dear Mark,
I can see part of your point in a past column, Mutual
Funds versus Blackjack, but many Americans believe
that investing on Wall Street is also a form of
gambling. At least in Vegas you have fun even when
you lose. Besides, most people gamble for the entertainment
value anyway. Brad K.
I
would not confuse a Gallop Poll where 52% of respondents
said investing in the stock market was a form of gambling,
with you having fun and losing in a casino.
In actuality, Brad, far too many players ante-up with
nothing more than greed on their minds. If you think
Americans gamble for fun, don't bet on it. Most Americans
who gamble say they wager to make money and not simply
to be entertained.
According to the University
of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center (NORC),
a dramatic and ominous shift has occurred in the
reasons why people bet. In 1975, seven in 10 Americans
told the NORC that they gambled for the "excitement
and challenge of gambling," and well under
half said making money was an important reason.
Not so today.
In NORC's most recent survey, two out of three Americans,
or 67%, now say they bet "to win money."
Those contrary tugs that people feel about gambling
often affect most the very people who can least
afford to throw away their hard-earned money. No
one, repeat, no one should ever view gambling as
a source of income.
Getting back to what I previously wrote in my column,
"Mutual funds versus Blackjack," my analysis
compared earning a living by playing the stock market
to earning a living playing blackjack. I stated
that entering the world of blackjack as a profession
(investment) takes enormous work and you are playing
against, if not for a better term, a "financial
institution" that not only has a built-in house
edge, but also is there exclusively to beat you
out of every dollar you have.
Gambling should never be a poor man's way of investing.
Even for the poorest of investors, a $500 wager
in a mutual fund is a much better bet.
