Betfair Official Blog

Casinos And The City: Which Pay More?

THIS week the Casino Anorak has been reading Investing In One Lesson by Mark Skousen.

The author tells us that "There are essential differences between gambling and the stock market, between Las Vegas and Wall Street".

But there are similarities. The Casino Anorak once worked in a newsroom where the accountants would watch horse racing all day, committed to the belief that racing would yield as much of a profit as investing in shares. Perversely, it was us on the sports desk who followed the shares. We had a small wager as to which would earn more over a year. We won. So much for the money men.

I also worked on the now defunct Liffe Floor (trading futures and options) and ran the traders' book. It was less about odds than opportunity, but the mentality was of informed punting.

Skousen notes that the financial markets can be used as a "gambling vehicle" - "as they were in the early 20th century with the bucket shops -betting sheets on stocks that operated purely as bets, with no stock ownership involved."

The author notes that the derivative markets (options and futures markets) have become "so removed from companies' fundamentals that they have all the appearances of a gigantic gambling casino".

It is quite true that punters/investors can look to the stock-options market. But one key difference is that when you lose in the City, you rarely if ever lose the lot. Indeed, over the longer term, you are more likely to win. Shares are a longer-term investment.

The same cannot be said of casino betting...