The only gambling I do is on the lottery, which has such poor chances but such a high payout it at least lets me dream of the possibilities for a few nights each month. It's really low cost and the trade off of getting the hope that you might wake up to a life altering amount of money is enough to fulfill my gambling needs. I'm not too interesting in placing small bets with the potential to convert $10 into $20 or even $100 - because the risk to reward is simply too low. By placing money on a lottery at a relatively low price, it meets that small urge to place a little bet occasionally and keeps it very manageable - other than that my money definitely does go into stock market investments and funds.