From my opinion, I think there isn’t any need to stake or risk one’s money on a game simply because you want to catch fun when you could simply not risk your money and still have fun while watching same game.
You might be right here when you said there are other ways to have fun without risking money, but I must say it is a different case and ways to have fun when there’s money involved, since gambling with your money has always a tight chance to win something back, beside all the adrenaline rushes every time you set a bet and wait for the outcome.
For people who risk in gambling thinks they will make profit in long term, those people end up addicted or face bad losses, as they always chase their losses thinking they will make it all back with one jackpot hit or win the lottery, 99% or more of these people won’t win anything, and end up in a circle, risking more and losing even more. Without much education and knowledge about gambling, you may face very unwanted side effects.
Finally, even if gambling is fun and different than other activities, it is very important for us to be careful and never spend and risk the money we need, entering or depositing in a casino with a mindset of winning is very wrong, we should always except losses.