So when some people undertake the activity its gambling, but when other people undertake [I][B]exactly the same activity[/B][/I], its [I]not[/I] gambling !
I might be taking the exact opposite side of your trade, so how can one of us be gambling, and the other not gambling ? we are both involved simultaneously in the same transaction. So how does that work then ? we are both risking money on an uncertain outcome, in hope of future gains. To complicate matters further, we may both lose, or both win.
Worse still, we might both take exactly the same trade, same entry price, same stop, and we may both exit at the same price. By your arguments you are not gambling, but I am, and yet we both did exactly the same thing. How does that work then ?
As for casino’s, yes they gamble. Some go out of business doing so despite their positive edge.
Gambling is not a mindset or psychological quirk of the individual, gambling is an activity, it is the act of staking money on an event with an uncertain outcome.
I believe the slot machines are linked to a computer that decides when they should pay out, I also beleive the computer only alows them to pay out when the casino has taken in more money than the amount the computer will allow the machines to pay out this is usually around 97% of the money taken in.
So this probably does not constitute gambling by the casino. I could be wrong on this as I am far from being an expert in the matters of running a casino.
The card games and the craps and the roulette the casino does gamble, the odds are in the favour of the casino but as the outcome of each game is uncertain,and either the casino or the player could win, both the casino and the player are gambling against each other on these games.