The same for gambling, you are placing your destiny in the hands of luck. You never know what cards will be drawn or what the slot machines will reveal next. Also these two follow the psychology term called the gamblers fallacy, the belief that if the outcome hasn't been going you way it eventually will. This fallacy is what causes many people to invest their whole life savings and lose it all. On the other hand they are different in some way because gambling isn't legal everywhere, whereas stock market investment is legal. Which, I don't understand because both are extremely risky and can be addictive. Although I hate gambling, if I had to choose I would put my money in the stock market rather than going to Vegas. Even though it's all based on chance at least I can research my investment rather than just popping in some coins and letting the wheel of chance spin.