Have you heard of Superpicks on DSTV? where you can make predictions and win money without staking your money?
My question is can it still be called gambling if it is not played with money?
While technically it could be called gambling, it's definitely not in the same league as risking real money on a bet. With virtual currency, that has no exchangeable value, you can never judge the quality of your opponent and their betting patterns almost become meaningless - so it's hard to improve or derive practical knowledge if your intention was to convert to paid betting later. As the person placing the bet, you will be more likely to take time and think through your betting strategy when real money is at risk.
If someone is betting without losing any kind of money, the emotion and tention that comes with gambling will not be there.
It will just simply look like a child's play and that I will not strongly call gambling.
However, it is said that gambling is for fun. If the statement is to be true and someone is having fun making gambling that does not involve money. That means they are fulfilling the part of the gambling that is fun and not to damage emotion or lead to addiction.