Just to help me understand your view a little better; take a football game, for example. Odds on team suggest 15% chance of winning, and odds on the other suggest 85% chance.
Would you consider it to be gambling, if you bet on the most likely outcome?
I know, my definition isn't very good - just not sure how to put my thoughts into words.
Betting on the outcome of a football team is gambling, because you don't have any control over the course of events that lead to the outcome. You are relying on hope. So 'control' is definitely a factor.
Take a casino for example. The 'customers' who are putting their money forward in hope of 'winning the big one' do so with very little actual chance of winning. The casino itself on the other hand is making a great investment in others gambling, because the odds are stacked in their favour in a such a way that the returns they receive would more then cover (above and beyond) any large winfall that might occur by a patron. So again control is coming into play.
I think there is also a psychological factor, in that anyone who is gambling does so for the thrill, and the huge windfall. If you enter investing with this mindset, then you are indeed gambling - but that doesn't make investing itself gambling, it is the mindset, the control and the ability to mitigate risks which influence this.
Take someone who smokes for example, they are taking a gamble that they won't develop lung cancer and die as a result of their smoking. they cann't really control anything or even accurately predict what will happen - they continue smoking based on 'hope' and imediate gratification, they block out or justify their actions against any information that might be contradictory to this action and belief that 'it won't happen to them'. Someone who 'invests' in the health would not take that risk - they would look at all the factors, statistics, etc and draw the conclusion that the problems caused by smoking are far too likely and commonplace and very often severe to risk the asset they are protecting (their health).
You can gamble with anything in life.
FWIW - I have a BIL who would disagree with me, he 'claims' to make alot of money out of gambling (poker, etc), indeed he has been on a winning streak lately. I think that if you went back over the course of his life and added up all the money he has lost and all the money he has won, he still wouldn't have recouped his losses. If someone was 'investing' with these same statistics, I would question if they had done any homework or DD, or just throwing their money away wildly hoping to catch something that will pay off.
It is hard to give accurate definitions, as 'investing' means different things to different people. It is such an abstract concept. To me, gambling is like running across the road blindfolded, with nothing more then a blind hope / faith that you will make it to the other side in one piece. Investing is like going up to the pedestrian crossing, pressing the button waiting for the little green man to signal it is safe to cross and still keep an eye out for drivers who might not pay attention. Either way it is possible to get hit, but if you run across the road blindfolded you have no control, no real knowledge of the risks, and the odds are stack in favour of you getting hit.
