Re: Is poker gambling?
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Gambling is wagering on an unexpected outcome. Of course poker is gambling. Even if you play a +EV game, it is still gambling.
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Then there isnt much in life that isnt gambling - your definition includes the stock market, working on commission, insurance contracts, commodity and real estate trading etc...
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If you think that purchasing insurance is gambling (even according to the above definition), then I think you don't understand what insurance is. You are gambling when you don't purchase insurance.
The fundamental difference between insurance and gambling has to do with risk. When you gamble, you increase your risk because you are trading a fixed amount of money for an uncertain outcome (a chance at a profit). When you buy insurance, you are doing just the opposite. You are buying certainty, and transferring the uncertainty to the insurance company. You don't profit from insurance (assuming you have an insurable interest).
Gambling increases your risk, insurance decreases your risk.
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It's not about increasing or decreasing risk.
Gambling is wagering something of value on an undetermined event. Buying insurance is gambling that something bad is going to happen to you. The insurance company is betting it doesn't.
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