No, gambling and investing differ greatly. With investing you put your money to work in projects or activities that are expected to produce a positive return over time - they have positive expected returns. Gambling is to place bets on the outcomes of events or games. Your money is not being put to work at all. Often, gambling has a negative expected return. While an investment may lose money, it will do so because the project involved fails to deliver. The outcome of gambling, on the other hand, is due purely to chance.