Gambling vs. Sports Betting

Outsiders, regulators, and opponents like to speak of “online gambling” as a whole. They refer to online sports bets, poker, and casino games by the collective name of “gambling”, since they don’t see any other of their aspects, but the fact that they involve wagers of real money placed on the outcome of a variety of events. This, in turn, doesn’t make them equal, by no means.

What is gambling?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines gambling as “to take a chance”, and “to bet on an uncertain outcome”. This is a definition that applies perfectly to casino games, but doesn’t really cover the other two things commonly referred to as “gambling”.

Casino games are a breed apart. First of all, they are “games” that you play at All Slots Canada. Neither sports betting – which is not entertaining in itself, if you think of it – nor poker – which is entertaining, but in a very different way – have the playful nature of casino games. All the games at the All Slots Canada have one thing in common: they are fun. No matter if they are played with reels, dice, cards, or anything else, they are entertaining. The All Slots Canada is, first and foremost, an entertainment venue. It’s a very specific form of entertainment, but it’s entertainment nonetheless. People enjoy playing games at the All Slots Canada, and many of them don’t care at all about winning.

What is sports betting?

Basically, sports betting is a way to monetize sports knowledge. Bookmakers take into account the probability of one athlete or team to win or lose a certain match, and turn this expertise into profits. So do punters, by the way – the most successful sports bettors are walking and talking sports encyclopedias, who can predict the outcome of a game.

How is sports betting different from casino games? Where casino games focus mostly on entertainment, sports bets are placed with winning additional money in mind. Sports betting in itself is not entertaining – it’s the event the bet is placed on that is fun to watch. While placing a bet on a match can enhance the experience, placing the bet in itself is not fun at all.

How about poker?

Poker is a game apart. It is much more similar to chess than to casino games, although the fact that it involves playing cards can be quite misleading for many. People win money if they win at poker – this also makes it similar to gambling. But it relies much less on luck, and much more on skill, than any game you’ll have the chance to play at the All Slots Canada, which sets it apart from casino games.

Poker was, by the way, officially accepted as a mind sport by the International Mind Sports Association at its 2010 congress held in Dubai.

Sports betting, casino games, and poker are three completely different things altogether. Referring to them by a collective name is misleading at best.