You have a good position in this situation, investing instead of risking your money inside gambling, if you can do that and you can manage yourself, you will harvest the fruit of your success, if you have that good anticipation and a good mind control you can use your spare money not to any form of risk or any form of gambling but doing your investment with a good knowledge and understanding, you may earn decently after.
Using the money in the gambling is not risking the money,because we had a chance of winning from the gambling.It's seems you totally worry about the loss before suggesting others.Practice the gambling with the less money is most essential one.After getting good experience from the gambling,you can do start the high bet in the gambling.Many people start to gamble without learning the food ideology about the gambling.It's like the investing in the random coin in cryptocurrency without understanding the ground reality about the coin and without checking the background verification of the owners.The main purpose of the gambling is to provide the entertainment to the user and many wrongly think it's money making machine.
You can practice gambling by using demo account to test the waters first without actually burning money. If you aren't knowledgeable about the basics, then chances of you losing is high. Hence, you must understand and get used to the process first. If you can't do it without money involved, then practicing with small amount is the next good idea. You shouldn't start big as your initial bet, never, ever. Don't be greedy thinking you have the beginner's luck because not everyone has the same level of it during first plays or bets. If you want to have some fun, do it without the expense your finances.
You need that knowledge and proper understanding of what you are taking, gambling is a risky place for your money if you step on it without knowing or without any basic it's just like throwing your money and not to expect for something in return, though there's luck if permits you may win some and chances that you will keep coming back will take place, better to study and assess if you can control yourself or if you have that good understanding to continue to proceed with your gambling practices.
There are more games that is just based on pure luck, so it's really hard to make money out of it. Maybe just 1 out 5 days if you try gambling, you are going to lose and have that kind of winning streak. Not saying that you can make money, but it's difficult if you play luck based games.
And then there are games that is based on skills like poker, but still though, the odds might shift to you, but if you are also playing against guy that is better or equal to you, it's going to be very difficult to overcome that odds. Yeah, maybe you have to think positive always, but it might or might not help you in the end.