There is never a good time to start gambling, at least not when the game doesn't have at least some element of skill to go along with it. Maybe if you're god at poker you can make some money off of it, but for most people that isn't something that they can viably consider.
Investing and trading will almost always yield better returns than anything gambling can net, and it has less risk as long as you know how to properly play the market. That, or you just follow people who pump up altcoins and then dump them once the value gets high.
Investing with just "little bucks" never yields a benefit compared to what happens when you invest with big bucks.