I'll bet there are quite a few people out there who have shares on the stock market and anyone who "plays" the stock market is doing nothing more than gambling.

What better to do for a first post than go Riverdancing into the minefield of somsone else's hotly-contested debate? Hello everyone, by the way - I've lived in HOP for a few years and have only just found this place.

Shzl400 makes a good point, in my view - it's possible to attach quite a pejorative undertone to conversations about "gambling" but for a lot of people (e.g. every banker and broker in the City) it's how they earn a living. Personally, I have no view on the moral rights-and-wrongs of gambling per se, but I do feel a tadlet uncomfortable with bookies. And casinos, for that matter. Look at it this way - when was the last time you saw a bookie go out of business? Never, I suspect. Why? Because they fix the odds to make it enormously unlikely that they will lose across the board. Same goes for Casinos - any business which makes money from gambling without simply taking a cut of your stake must be stacking the odds against you in order to survive...[/i]