Topic: Is gambling with cryptocurrency the same as gambling at a casino? Differentiate (Read 571 times)

You are right, we as traders do not know what the next move of a particular chart will be, so I apply something very simple, it is to see what has happened previously to give me an idea of ​​what could happen, otherwise I would not make any kind of prediction because that is a prediction and it is not something I am an expert in, so I base myself on the routine or pattern that I can give, so for market speculation, many use their tools, indicators and everything they have at hand, all of that is valid.

Investing is considered gambling because you are taking a risk with your investment, especially in a highly volatile market, but the difference is you can cut your losses in cryptocurrency, while in gambling you can totally get wiped out.
I consider both as gambling, with playing in casinos considered high risk and investing in cryptocurrency low risk to medium risk. Either way, you have to understand the risk and only invest or play with money that you can afford to lose.

The chart pattern and reading is what give cryptocurrency trading that professional look compared to gambling, although cryptocurrency market speculation is also like gambling because as a market speculator, you don't know what exactly will happen in the market in the next second, so for that, is left for you to at least make an analysis of what the market could and should look like and make your predictions along that line of thoughts, so somehow both gambling and trading have some similarities and features because luck have a tiny place in trading and while luck have a higher play in gambling.

So we have to understand that,  because of the availability of theory and patterns, makes trading a fundamental activities that bits the luck factor in gambling that make up for their similarities is this discussion and reality.

That's how it is, many times when many market speculators see a futures market they see it as if it were gambling, because they say that anything can happen, and that trading is a game, but when looking at trading in more detail things are different because each one of those charts often comply with patterns , with fundamentals, with many things of theory, so that is more reliable than just leaving everything to luck as in the casinos, and that sometimes in the game of a casino the strategy does work, but it is not a guarantee that it will happen.

Lots of people have no clue about why they are different and that upsets me a lot. Gambling is something you are doing knowing the odds are against your favour and in theory you should be losing money, there are few cases where people make a lot, like hit the jackpot and won millions type of thing, but in most cases that doesn't happen and majority, 99% of the people end up losing money.

What we need to realize currently would be just focusing on how much money you can make while you can and get out. Whereas, trading is not something you could lose money all that easily, if you know what you are doing and it is not designed to make you lose, plus there doesn't need to be a loser neither, we could all win, we could all buy higher and higher and keep making more, so its not decided beforehand and the odds are not against our favour. We could still lose if we make a mistake, but losing while trading isn't as expected result as gambling at all.

Why people cant really be just that able to determine things in between investment/business comparing into for leisure time or entertainment? Using up our own common sense then we will really be able to determine or able to know that this is really that two different things on which it would really be needing up that two different approach. The main issue on where is that these people are really that trying out to apply when it comes to gambling behavior on which they will really be having that kind of possibility the risks will really be increased up even more. Also, if we do really make out some in comparison about investing then there's really that a specific level of risks but it is way more smaller or lesser than we do really speak or talk about for long time source of income.

It will really be just that impossible that you cant be able to distinguish the level of risk in between two. There are those who are really just that delusional because they are really that expecting too much.
So it will really be that up to you whether you do make use of your crypto on whatever aspects. Playing on it using crypto or simply playing fiat on a casino is really just that the same.
As long it is really that pertaining to gambling we do know that risks.

In my opinion, you can't compare gambling and trading with each other. They are different things. The level of risk is high in both, but for me, gambling is just a game, while trading is a serious analysis and approach.

Or you can just trade in short position, you will make money without need to wait the price down and wait until the price rise.

It's already different, if you hold Bitcoin for a long time, you're inventing instead of trading or gambling.

Skills do work in gambling, it just depend on the games you play.

If you play sports or poker, your skills will increase the chance to win, the same thing like trading. Bitcoin or other assets are inevitable with black swan event, if something happen, it can make the price to fall or rise.

This has been talked about a million times before, but to give an exact return, gambling has different ways so it is not really anything exact. What we are seeing at gambling is against casino and against others. In games like slots and what not, we are gambling against the house, whereas seeing this current situation where you play others that makes it a lot better.

When you are talking about gambling against others that is a bit remotely similar, not exactly, but at least you are earning what others are losing, so there is a similarity a bit, whereas if you are going to end up playing against the house then you are not going to get a good return at all and you will lose, trading doesn't make you automatically lose, you "may" lose but it is up to how good or bad you are. Gambling basically makes you lose, that's the difference, and if you are a terrible trader then you will become a gambler and I have seen plenty of gamblers like that, who gamble while trading.

The difference between gambling and buying some crypto coins is that if you lose in gambling then you lose your money, but if when you lose money on crypto or lose, your coins still remain in your wallet, you only lose their value and that is a very clear difference, but the gambling attitude can also be applied to crypto, like you don't understand why you invest or buy a coin of a crypto project it's the same as gambling, and another example is when you don't know why you buy and just hope for a profit, I think it's the same as you gamble, but when you have bought bitcoin that you used to think was gambling if you hold it for a long time you will realize and know then you know about bitcoin, you are saved from gambling attitude on bitcoin (unless you make a sale because of panic when bitcoin is correcting).

Indeed, cryptocurrencies have some similarities with gambling and I call investing in cryptocurrencies a game of roulette, because the success of random investing in cryptocurrencies depends on the same randomness as in a game of roulette.

Although the end result in cryptocurrencies and gambling is money, which achieved in different ways. Cryptocurrencies are not games after all, there is no gameplay.

What is our life? - The game!

Gambling is also based on mathematics, much more than luck. Gambling is mathematically designed so that the chances of winning are tiny.

But isn't this what gambling and cryptocurrencies have in common? We always play against "someone". The amount of money in the casino or in others doesn't fundamentally change anything in this scheme.

There are no guarantees in gambling, and in cryptocurrencies, strategies and skills alone are not enough, because the market is virtually unpredictable and can be influenced by almost any player.

Well in gambling there's always just one ending if you keep on playing, you lose.
In investing or trading Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, you can somehow save a part of your money if you can pull it out before it goes to dust, as long as you are monitoring the market.
I think I will always just choose trading instead of gambling if I really am aiming to make profits. Gambling is a leisure to keep your head off from problems and be entertained, that's the only purpose of it. Trading is like a job that you need to keep a keen eye on so that you can somehow predict the market and make money from those fluctuations.

In gambling, you bet money on a certain outcome. If the outcome occurs according to your bet, you make profit. If it doesn't occur, your bet is lost.
In trading, you buy an asset(currency, gold, stocks, crypto, commodities, etc.) and you wait for the price of that asset to increase. If you sell at a lower price, you calculate a loss. If you sell at a higher price, you make profit. The bear strategy is a bit different than the bull strategy. You sell and wait for the price to drop, so you could buy at a cheaper price.
Trading isn't the same as gambling, it has different risk management and you don't rely on pure luck. I understand why so many people make the connection between trading and gambling, in both cases risk is involved and the probability of losing money is high.

That is the point I want everyone to understand about the concept of trading Vs gambling because a lot of times, many forum members tend to misunderstand this concept and also may tend to go in the wrong direction to speculate trading, thinking it works based on luck as gambling does.

Cryptocurrency trading is a skills-based activity, and how much profit you make depends on your skills and knowledge about the market, unlike gambling that skills don't work, and only luck does this is the situation where a gambler depends solely on his luck to win, but in trading, at last, the trader could speculate his expected profits.

I agree with what you say, because it is market speculation and not gambling, the entry cannot be done by gambling because if you win at some point that luck can end, and that is not what is recommended, in my opinion not even futures trading is gambling, it is something that will always be seen as a basis for doing any operation, I see trading of any temporality can be done knowing and not guessing, and trading can be done with crypto and fiat money, the important thing is that trading is not seen as gambling.

You know I’m still tryna figure out what you actually mean by this here, about having a guaranteed win in casino gambling, I’m a little bit confused and would really need clarification because I hope you’re not implying what i actually think you’re trying to say, because you’d be total wrong to say there’s a guarantee of win in casino gambling and I’d be happy to hear you give you some reasons to why I should feel otherwise about this opinion.

Well, the answer to your question (which you already attempt to answer) is quite simple. While it’s true that both involves risking something valuable with expectations of gaining back something even better, the approach and strategies are where the differences lies, in casino gambling, luck is the major determinant of victory regardless of the level of your skills and experiences, while crypto gambling or trading is quite the opposite, you need more of skills and experience than you need luck to ensure a good result.

Trading without skills is pour gambling, because at that point you will be mislead by emotions and feelings, but when you trade with skills, you suspend your human feelings and at the same time focus only on the technical aspect and devoid of feelings or emotions, this is what make the difference between a pro trader and a newbie who lack basic trading ethics.

Going by this, before we call gambling as trading or taking trading to. Mean gambling, we muct identify and point out the various differences between the two.

Even if we do trading with skills and a little bit of luck, it will still be like gambling at the casino because there are also skill-based games on it. If you still believe that they are not the same, then you must say that trading is more winnable or less risky. The reason why people see trading as a very risky activity, is because they think it was very hard (which is true at first) because there are different things involved like doing an analysis, using complex tools, etc.. but once you learn them, you will say that it was only easy and you will now become profitable towards it.

Gambling on the casino other hand is easy to play because we will mostly just place a bet and push that run button but what makes it hard (to win) is it is mostly working randomly. Trading is not gambling, in a way that there are no flashy images here and sounds, so all must take trading seriously in order to earn.

This is our main goal here. Meanwhile, gambling in casino should be the opposite of it and yeah even for those games who are skill-based. They are only an added variation for some people who likes to think critically like for example when a person enjoys puzzles and mind games and most of the time, they can't also earn money here.

It's definitely not, there is a huge difference. The biggest difference for me is the provably fair, the casinos in the fiat world is definitely fake and they are designed to make more than what they claim. In fiat world, they say the house edge is 1% and in reality it is 10%+ and they even design it in a way where the early end up winning so when you are starting out, you think they are giving out money and you spend more, and when you get a hold of it, you start losing more and more, and when you enter a huge number, they just automatically make you lose.

This is why I believe we should definitely go with crypto version because there we will see that crypto ones have provably fair and that means we are going to end up with a great return without a doubt. So this is the way we need to move forward, because crypto is better at everything, it's better currency, better asset, better gambling and everything else, just go with it and trust bitcoin.

Gambling is the same irrespective of the used platform, the disparity in which am seeing from what OP is asking was if there is any difference or similarities between crypto gambling and the casino gambling, this should not be a serious concern to know what they have either similarities or differences, i see that it's all about the decision and choice we all make concerning gambling base on our preferences to doing it as we want.

I'm not sure of how well these two things relates even though i can agree to the fact that some cryptocurrencies are way too risky to invest in. But from an ideal sense, crypto is literally a payment method, which i think most casinos have employed in order to give extra payment options to their customers. IMO, casino should be casinos, while crypto should be crypto. Even from the thread's question, we can of course say that people gamble with cryptocurrencies(payment options) in casinos. But like i said, some cryptocurrencies are too way risky to invest in, but using the word gambling in crypto to compare that of casino sounds little weird to me.

There is no need to act professional when we are still at a begining level in this crypto industry.
Op you got the scenarios of Crypto currencies and gambling complicated or maybe I should say I was the one who find it hard to understand your terminology.
However, there you would only think you are potentially gambling in the crypto market when you adopt to invest on those hyping Meme Coins which developers has tends to fume adoptors to make quick profits and due to highily volatility level of the coin, you could probably lost it all when holding and anticipating to make profits which literally is based on luck due to unprediction of the coin. You were only probably lured to invest in it because you were convinced due to its hyping.
But Investing on reputable cryptocurrencies would always have you that profit returns than despites its volatility, you just need to keep holding and along the way in time, you could recover and make your profits.

I agreed with you but we could say that they have certain similarities especially when we talk about the risk involvement and that of the emotional aspects that are associated with trading with cryptocurrency and gambling in a casino the same principle of not being guarantee of success irrespective of how long you have been in to it, one of the reasons why at most times trading cryptocurrency is often refer as gambling is because of it's high risk and the emotional devastation with uncertainty of a positive result moreso regarding cryptocurrency as gambling also has to do with the risk of getting involved with a coin that could end up being a scam project and that's the reason why it always advisable to invest in Bitcoin for long term other than any other coins. Ops is still a newbie and with time he will understand better.

My two satoshis:


You are not comparing gambling with cryptocurrency, but gambling with crypto trading. Crypto trading has nothing to do with mathematics/calculations and cryptography, at least at the mid-user level, and a lot to do with pure luck.


Crypto tranding and betting are zero-sum games. Although you are right that you are betting against the casino in some sense, in reality for you to win there must be people who lose. You are not winning the casino's money, but the money other gamblers lose, the same as with trading. The casino simply gets a calculated percentage, similar to exchanges. More than the opposing party, they are more like intermediaries that offer an interface.


Strategies and skill are overvalued not only in crypto trading, but in trading in general. University tuition fees, expensive courses, broker premiums from Wall Street's biggest firms, all this is nothing more than an illusion since it has been shown that a monkey throwing darts would obtain similar results.

It will look the same if you do trading without skills such as only using feelings and relying on luck but if you do trading with good skills then it is very different from gambling, it's just that both are equally risky, risky to lose money but the risk in trading can be minimized by doing it with good skills and management.

The only difference between investing/trading and gambling is knowledge, nothing more, nothing less. If you have no knowledge but are greedy and rush to trade then even if you trade bitcoin or top altcoins as you said, you will still lose and it is no different than you are gambling. Because if we have knowledge, most of us will tend to stay away from scam shitcoins, we won't waste our time on it, only ignorant people rush in with the hope of getting rich quickly.

Also what are Doge, Shib or Pepe called? To me they are memecoins but they are all in the top 10 to top 20 on CMC. Many people can also make profits and even get rich from them, so I don't think all memecoins are bad.

Shitcoin is sometime worst than gambling, because with shit coin you have team who constantly manipulate the market just to suit their scammy and greedy desire, theyare constantly manipulating the market, like pumping and dumping the coin at will, this have made this shitcoins to be of higher risk and controlled by the teams.

But gambling on the other hand, can still be based on luck and if a gambler have the luck on they side, they will definitely and easily win without any interference from the house edge, so for that it more better to gamble that trading shitcoins.

I can agree with you about the similarity between gambling and crypto trading for shitcoin and memecoin but I disagree with you for bitcoin and strong coins with strong projects that rank well in the market.

For shitcoin and memecoin it is like gambling because there is nothing to analyze or do research you buy a coin and then wait to win or lose while with bitcoin and strong coins you need to have the experience and do deep research and technical and fundamental analysis to know when to buy and when to sell.

There are cryptocurrencies that are very similar to buying a lottery ticket...

... now, in the very idea of ​​your concern, yeah! since I do not see it as a logical approach from someone with a theoretical foundation in both subjects, but rather as the classic idea of ​​dysfunctional thinking in reference to subjects that he does not master... therefore I think that you have taken an old idea in the discussion that sometimes occurs of thinking that trading is gambling.

In any case, the answer to your question is No.

There is still a huge difference between both matters. As Pawell explained, gambling at a casino means losing in the long run. Investing, trading or he said gambling with cryptocurrency for the long term can give you better results. And about deposits and withdrawals, they don't have much difference because exchanges/wallets and casinos support various currencies/cryptocurrencies except for the wallets that are bitcoin-only like Electrum. One difference as mentioned by the few here is that we can logically compare these two is that you invest, and trade(gamble) against the market/everyone, and with the casinos, you gamble against the house.

I'm sure the OP didn't mean "gambling with cryptocurrencies in an online casino" but "speculation / trading with cryptocurrencies". Perhaps they can clarify. So the thread is correct in this subforum I think

Yes, it always depends on the timeframe and the urgency you have, e.g. if you need the money at a specific date and you bought the BTC specifically to sell them later for fiat. In this case we can also have the situation you described as "a loss is a loss".

This is basically similar with all financial investments with variable return (stocks, gold, Bitcoin ...) and indeed very different from gambling. In the case of memecoins or low-cap altcoins, where you normally only have a short timeframe to make profits because the coin will eventually be dumped into oblivion, the similarity is closer.

What is this thread doing on bitcoin speculation board, I think this is a wrong board for this discussion, since you are comparing cryptocurrency gambling and physical or online gambling, please move this thread to the gambling discussion board,.https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=228.0

But to your question, gambling both with cryptocurrency a d online casino are almost the same and nothing different except that both have a different way of making deposits and withdrawals.

You are right. But I think as both can show some similarities, they are basically and very different. I can buy bitcoin and the price can start to decrease, making me to have unrealized loss. I can decide to be patient and continue holding my coin on a noncustodial wallet. There is high probability that bitcoin will not disappoint me as the price will later rise and rise further and I will make money from my unrealized profit.  That means a loss may not be a loss if it is bitcoin holding but a loss is a loss while betting or gambling.

There's always that fine line in between talking about Bitcoin and with some altcoins neither solid coins or shitcoins in the market on which there are those investors or individuals who do have that kind of approach on things like having those kind of impressions that they are really loving or wanting on dealing up on something that could give out that huge profits or returns. Gambling is really just that meant for the sake of fun and leisure and its really just that a bad thing that you will really be trying out it out to compare it on trading or investment on crypto space, not unless if you are dealing with meme coins or dealing up with futures then you can really say that you are somewhat in part of gambling on this sense, but eventually making out some engagement will really be just that totally depending into someones risks taking. Doesnt matter on what you are really that dealing into as long you are that making your crypto is at stake then it will really be just that meaning up on the same thing whether you do lost it or earn more basing up on how lucky you will be.

You are right, profiting from trading is about having a strong emotions and combining good strategy. The reason why I mentioned the emotion is because, the reason why some persons lose a lot in trading is because they have a weak emotion, they can not face the reality of seeing their position having a -50% lose. It's just like what happened to me just between this week and last week, I was shorting Bitcoin last week with entry price of $68k+ but disappointedly the price spiked to $70k to $73k and my liquidation price was $65k. If I had panicked, I would have closed the trade earlier but I held the position even when I was have -125% lose. I am still holding the position with only -25% lose now.

Altcoins are more than this. There are some with proper research that later become disappointing and led to loss. Nobody know that Luna can go from $119 to $0.000005.
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Pitifully, no body would have agreed if they were told such will happen.

Even shitcoin "gambling" can be very different from casinos. The biggest difference for me is that the gamblers can contribute to influence the result, albeit it will not always work (but it can).

Imagine you're gambling at a casino playing roulette, and you bet on the color black. Now you and other players could influence the result depending on how many people shout "We're opting for Black"

So even gambling with the most useless and most volatile shitcoins (memecoins, BRC-20, Runes), is actually very different in the sense that the result is not completely random but insteads depends on the way the gamblers behave.

In the case of Bitcoin I would say there is almost no gambling at all involved, as normally 80-90% of the price depends on some event or statistic, be it fundamental or technical. For very short term trading it can be perhaps compared to betting on real-life events like football or elections. And also in the case of Bitcoin, the "gamblers" can try to influence the result, for example posting permabullish predictions ("1 million in 5 years") or FUD ("Bitcoin will be cracked by quantum computers in months!") e.g. here in the forum, on Bitcoin blogs or social media.

At least for the longer terms and in some cases, users who really use Bitcoin (e.g. for transactions, as merchants or service providers) will add value to the ecosystem, so it's not a zero sum game. Bitcoin's (and other "serious" crypto projects') value proposition works a bit similar to a social network. So long term "investing" is even less similar to casino gambling than the short/midterm strategies mentioned above.

So I'm taking it that the OP is lumping Bitcoin in with $hitcoins when referring to
"Cryptocurrency". I like to separate them.

I see trading in $hitcoins as a gamble, I see trading in Bitcoin ^{with a degree of knowledge}
as a skill, being able to read charts by the minute, hour, day and week and
to make a call based on what it happening in the markets.

Gambling on sport or casino games is chance and luck based but there are
lots of unforseen factors which could make or break a bet in terms of sports
and in terms of casino games it depends on the computer programming.

I think two things were involved here, its either you are not getting it right or you are not being able to convey yourself to the extent that one can understand the exact point your bringing out, gambling is not crypto trading, in gambling, we can make use of either fiat or cryptocurrency to play our bets, this does not have to be whether the kind of casino being used determined your differences, all you do is to chose the platform to use for gambling, either online or by physical, also know that the physical casinos accept fiat mostly unlike the online platforms which accepts for the use of cryptos.

You are right but if a trader trades blindly without analyzing the market before entering a trade, that is not only when trading can be seen as gambling. Another one is when you hold a coin which can either give your much profit or turn your money to a complete loss. There are many shit coins in the market. Also some traders can be trading and be losing after analysis the market. What j meant is that not all traders that analysis the market that are good. Some people will continue to lose.

Altcoins are more than this. There are some with proper research that later become disappointing and led to loss. Nobody know that Luna can go from $119 to $0.000005.

Gambling casino requires luck, especially when you are playing some casino games like plinko, crash or aviator, dice, etc, you chance of winning totally depends on luck, while trading or holding is more of skills than luck. If a trader trades blindly without analyzing the market before entering a trade, that's when it can be seen as gambling for luck alone. Although some people buys a coin without doing a proper research about the coin but they expect to make profit, which can only be possible if the token was a good one.

I think you are meshing gambling and trading together? They can be both done when it comes to crypto imo, you can gamble your money into trying out a cryptocurrency you found or something but even the smallest decision like investing in a random top 10 coin already takes it outside of the realm of gambling and puts it into the realm of trading. Why? Because you started thinking. You started making decisions about a certain asset you wanted to invest in and THAT can influence the result. That doesn't happen in gambling. No matter how much you start thinking about what game to play or what timing to roll the dice, the odds are and will always be the same.

If you were to pick something than trading to describe it but similar to gambling, then I'd call it a calculated gamble. It's a gamble, yes, but the calculated part makes the entire difference.

Do you mean trading with cryptocurrency or using cryptocurrency as a tool or means of exchange in a gambling scenario? If you mean trading with cryptocurrency then there is a big difference because gambling is solely based on luck, done during leisure and it's done as a form of entertainment while trading is based on technical and fundamental market analysis. Trading also involves buying and selling although both trading and gambling has uncertain outcomes but they are completely different in so many ways.

I will put it this simple trading actually has a variable loss where you can buy and sell anytime either at a loss, break even or at a profit but with gambling you have a fixed result either it is a win or loss. Trading actually gives you the edge to predict the market with analysis like either fundamentals or mostly used one which is technical analysis.

Although many can say that it is all about chance for both cases I think you can actually control the chance a bit with trading strategy and because you see the market trend and can make predict base on historical data and events on what next will happen but with gambling you don’t have such opportunity.


This will be limited to not trading memecoins because to me the devs here have edge either to dump the token or rug it, so this is actually like gambling unlike trading utility coins

If you think a little about the meaning of the two objects you are referring to, then you should find the definition of both. What is cryptocurrency and what is gambling.
If our minds put forward unscientific goals, it is possible that people with the same intentions will think that both are the same and you are right.

Casinos that support cryptocurrency for deposits, then cryptocurrency used as a means of betting can be called gambling. If people make cryptocurrency to exchange, then it is called trading. It depends on the type of trading that is done.

What OP is talking about is trading and not investing in bitcoin or other crypto coins. Investing in bitcoin is better if done at the right time but trading is very risky.

Also you only explained about bitcoin but there are other cryptocurrencies which have higher volatility and that resembles gambling.

Although you are right that gambling sites have house edge, unlike trading that people are the ones making the profit and the loss from each other.

The main characteristic of gambling is that you're expected to lose money in the long run, because of the casinos advantage (edge) that you mentioned. This is not true for cryptos, or at least not for Bitcoin, which, at least so far, tends to appreciate in value over the long term.

You could argue whether investing in Bitcoin is a zero-sum game (i.e., your profit is another man's loss). I'd say this is more true for short-term trading but not necessarily for long-term investing.

You do not understand what trading is. That is why you are saying it is the same as gambling. Trading is not gambling but it is very risky just like gambling. Trading is trading. Gambling is gambling.

If it is about going to spot market to trade, that is trading. If you go to casino to gamble while playing some games, that is gambling.

Cryptocurrency gambling can be seen as similar to gambling at a casino in the sense that both involve risking something of value in order to gain something else of value. You can be on the winning side today and on the losing side tomorrow too. However, here are some key differences between these gambling. Gambling games are games of chance where you could theoretically win or lose, but there is monetary value involved.
Gambling is based on chance, while cryptocurrency is based on mathematics/calculations and cryptography.
With gambling, you are betting against the casino house and board members, but with cryptocurrency you are betting against other people that have more or the same and similar amounts of money as you do.
In casino gambling there is usually a guaranteed win for them because they have an edge on their games while in crypto it requires strategies and skill to top up your game.