When Did Investing Start Looking So Much Like Gambling?

There used to be an obvious visual difference between investing and gambling.

One happened through a broker.

The other happened inside a casino or betting shop.

Today, both can happen through an app while waiting for your coffee.

Live prices. Probabilities. Push notifications. Leaderboards. Crypto. Event contracts. “Up or down?” Immediate deposits. Immediate results.

The products are different.

The experience is becoming increasingly similar.

Some young people are already blurring the distinction

In 2025, Spanish consumer organisation OCU surveyed 3,000 people aged 18 to 30 about finance, investing and social media.

Around 32% said social media was their primary source of financial information. Among young people already investing, that figure rose to 65%.

Thirteen per cent followed financial influencers, while 10% reported having made investment decisions based on their content (OCU, 2025). www.ocu.org

The problem is not that financial information exists on Instagram or TikTok.

Excellent financial education exists there.

The problem is the incentive structure.

Social platforms reward attention.

Attention rewards novelty, certainty, emotion and speed.

“Build a diversified portfolio and wait thirty years” is financially interesting.

It is not particularly good clickbait.

Trading platforms have moved in the same direction

The Financial Conduct Authority has warned that some trading apps use game-like features capable of encouraging customers to take actions that may not be in their interests.

Frequent notifications, badges, celebratory messages and other engagement mechanisms can blur the line between investing and gambling-like behaviour (Financial Conduct Authority, 2022). FCA

The FCA has also found that younger investors are heavily represented among users of higher-risk products.

In earlier research, 59% of younger investors participating in high-risk investments said a significant loss would have a fundamental impact on their current or future lifestyle. Thrill and excitement were among the motivations reported by some investors (Financial Conduct Authority, 2021). FCA

The issue is not simply whether someone is investing.

It is why they are doing it and what behaviour the product encourages once they arrive.

Prediction markets push the boundary even further

Prediction markets allow users to put money behind the outcome of future events.

Will a candidate win an election?

Will a company announce something before a particular date?

Will an economic event occur?

Some of these markets may provide useful information by aggregating beliefs.

But from the perspective of personal wealth building, they are very different from owning a diversified portfolio of productive assets.

European regulators have started paying attention.

In July 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority noted the growing popularity of prediction markets and reminded firms that some event contracts may fall under existing restrictions on binary options. ESMA also noted that certain event contracts may legally qualify as bets under national gambling legislation (ESMA, 2026). ESMA

That distinction matters.

A product being called a “market” does not automatically make participation in it a long-term investment strategy.

Investing and gambling solve different problems

A diversified stock investment gives the owner exposure to companies producing goods, services, profits and economic activity.

Its value fluctuates. Returns are uncertain. Losses are possible.

But conceptually, the investor is allocating capital to productive assets.

A bet on whether a specific event will occur has a different economic structure.

The danger appears when both activities are presented through almost identical interfaces and therefore begin to feel like variations of the same thing.

They are not.

Wealth building is often deliberately boring

The foundations of long-term investing are not particularly exciting.

Diversification.

Reasonable costs.

Regular contributions.

Risk appropriate to your horizon.

Time.

Patience during bad markets.

None of this provides the immediate emotional reward of correctly predicting what happens tomorrow.

That may actually be the point.

Entertainment is allowed to be entertaining.

Gambling is allowed to be gambling when it is legal and understood as such.

Speculation is allowed to be speculation.

The important thing is not to confuse any of them with a plan designed to build wealth over decades.

Because investing does not have to feel like winning.

Sometimes it simply has to feel like waiting.

References

European Securities and Markets Authority. (2026). ESMA reminds firms of existing rules and obligations under binary option measures amid growing popularity of prediction markets globally.

Financial Conduct Authority. (2021). FCA warns that younger investors are taking on big financial risks.

Financial Conduct Authority. (2022). Gaming trading: How trading apps could be engaging consumers for the worse.