I have a business idea that I think has the potential to make a lot of money. But it seems like a form of gambling. The only way for me to tell for sure is to ask this: Does Bolt “gamble” when he is racing and competing with other racers on the tracks like on the Olympics?
Users are not allowed to bet on a sporting event they are participating… If caught, they will not be able to claim their winnings… But He is allowed to bet on other events he is not participating… But why will Bolt gamble??? Na big man nah… Lol…
Kindly reach me via balogundanjuma@gmail.com If your idea is nice, lets work together… I have connects in the betting industry 
No, I think I was misunderstood. What I mean is the mere act of racing considered a gamble?
For example:
Gambling is defined as putting in a valuable thing into an event that has an uncertain outcome with the expectation of getting something of greater value in return.
So Bolt practices, spends time and money on developing himself, etc. But he never is certain about the outcome of the race, he never really knows for sure that he’ll win, but if he does win, he gets medals, fame and even more money which are of greater value than what he’s spent in getting those and if he loses, he loses.
From my analogy, do you think he gambles?
Do you gamble when you wake up in the morning and set out for the daily bread (well, crumbs in Buhari economy) knowing the day just might be your last?
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If you had answered the question rather than asking it back, I would have asked why it isn’t illegal in countries that prohibit gambling.
My answer is Yes, cause you never know the outcome of the day, and if you succeed after the hustling, the reward will be far greater than the cost of the hustle.
Occam’s Razor
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No it is not gambling.
If it were, then everything in life will be gambling because we cannot tell the future.
The major difference is, this one depends mostly on you.
When you go to a NairaBet store and place bets, you have no control over the outcome.
On the other hand, when you start a business, or go out for the daily job, you have huge influence on the success (or faiure) of the day.
Starting a course where your ability to read, understand e.t.c determines whether you succeed is not gambling.
Going into an exam, trying to guess all the answers is gambling.
Doing you business analysis, market survey, and all you can do to minimize the risk of starting a new business is not gambling.
Giving MMM your money when you know it will crash at any moment IS GAMBLING.
This does not mean one is less risky than the other. But as far as you have the most influence on the success/failure, then it is not gambliing.
For more insight, read
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. A chapter talks about “The Circle of Influence”
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Sorry to resurrect this thread as it seems you guys are done with your explanations.
But from my point of view all of life is gambling.
Why?
At every point, you only try to tilt the odds in your favour. There are cases where all the perceived right variables were accounted for but in some ugly turn of events the participant loses.
Let’s paint a very hypothetical situation.
As a student, you have read all the necessary materials, you even understand them so well (not just crammed) but on the day of the exam for some strange reason your tummy was upset in the exam to the point that you were not able to attempt all questions properly.
I hope you can see the point I am trying to make.
To answer you @the_Ozmic, yes he gambles. We all gamble but society has tried to define good and bad gambling…
As you have not shared your idea yet, I hope this makes you consider working on your idea further.
A quick search give the definition of gamble as
take risky action in the hope of a desired result.
So no, live is not a gamble.
We do not know the future and we cannot say what will happen but at the same time, we do not take “risky” action.
I read in an awesome book that even in entrepreneurship and business, it is necessary to find ways to mimimize risk.
It gave examples of the people usually used to give “risk taking” examples
Bill Gates, Steve Jobs e.t.c.
Not in business, life or anything valuable do we take risky action.
On the contrary, we try to remove risk from out actions.
The above claims make it seem that the universal limitation of being unable to see the future means that everything is a gamble and this is simply not true
The moment you understand that “risky” is a relative term and not absolute then you might be able to see my perspective on this.
I totally understand what you mean about risk minimisation, but it is not a sufficient basis to brush off the element of gambling in all that we do.