zlacker

>>jimbob+(OP)
What the fuck do you have against people "ruining their lives"?

I've made a ton of bad decisions in the course of my life. And I'm all richer for it. Don't take that away from me.

I despise the nanny state policies of my homeland Finland. I've been a nomad for the past decade and a half due to it because I don't want to settle down in a place where people think they should be able to force other people to not make what they (or "the majority") think are stupid decisions.

You will always find justifications once you start going down the rabbit hole of "what's best for them".

>>spurgu+462
I believe that making mistakes is an integral part of learning and the way our society views failure is totally wrong. When you’re failing as often as you are succeeding this means you are operating at or near your limit, absolutely something to be proud of.

None of that applies to gambling though. Not only is there nothing to learn from failing that you couldn’t have learnt before placing a bet, but success could mean addiction and the eventual ruination of your life and the lives of those you love.

>>left-s+t72
> None of that applies to gambling though.

Are you sure about that?

> Not only is there nothing to learn from failing that you couldn’t have learnt before placing a bet

Just look at investing with fake money portfolios vs. making decisions with real money. Or playing poker with play money. It's a whole different game mentally and some lessons you just don't learn unless you got a real stake in it.

> but success could mean addiction and the eventual ruination of your life and the lives of those you love.

In my case my success (in poker) led to a prosperous career playing professionally. No lives ruined. YMMV.

Poker, or sportsbetting, is not gambling any more than investing in the stock market is, or choosing a spouse. Sure, you can gamble and YOLO your life savings on either of them. But you can also learn to make better decisions, the hard way. Or try and fail and lose money in the process. Rather than having a small set of "safe" pre-chosen options laid out for everyone.

Disclaimer: Games where you play against the house (that has an edge) like slots or roulette is gambling. But again, just because there are people playing slots to make a profit doesn't mean that we should ban being an idiot. Life is dangerous and you will eventually die from it. This is more of a personal philosophical opinion than a "what's best for people" one (which I think is wrong).

>>spurgu+ca2
Poker involves skill, I was not talking about poker. Unless you’re unskilled, in which case it’s gambling. Poker done right is a process in which safe failure can lead to skill growth.

Yes, investing on the stock market can be gambling, unless you have inside information or are extremely knowledgeable, you’re not going to beat a monkey. Investing in a diverse portfolio where you’re basically betting on the entire market growing is different.