Fundamentally, sports betting is gambling because you’re risking something of value to win something of equal or greater value.

Gambling involves three key elements:

• Consideration: The amount wagered or risked.
• Chance: The random factor determining the outcome.
• Prize: The potential reward for winning.

Sports betting can involve strategy, and you may win money, but that doesn’t change its gambling nature.

Bottom line: When money or something of value is staked on an uncertain outcome, betting is gambling.

Gambling can take many forms, including casino games, sports betting, lotteries, and poker. Dice, the earliest known form of human gambling, dates back approximately 12,000 years.

Gambling vs. Betting App Difference

Traditional sports betting apps like DraftKings and FanDuel are gambling. In many jurisdictions, they are regulated under state gambling laws.

Meanwhile, the federal government regulated so-called “prediction markets” like Kalshi and Polymarket. These platforms do not operate under state gambling laws.

As of 2026, prediction market operators argue they are federally regulated derivatives exchanges, not gambling companies. But multiple states and courts have treated so-called “sports-event contracts” as functionally indistinguishable from sports betting.

Several states have sued Kalshi over its gambling-like features.

Other Forms of Sports Betting Considered Gambling

Depending on whether money is staked, other forms of betting such as fantasy football leagues and March Madness brackets are gambling.

It doesn’t matter whether skill or research is involved. These activities can fit the definition of gambling.

So-called sweepstakes sportsbooks, such as Fliff, are also gambling if you purchase a virtual currency and use it to bet.

Is Sports Betting Skill-Based?

Sports betting involves an element of skill, but it is not based on skill.

Skill may affect how someone chooses a bet or a mixture of bets, but the bettor still cannot control team or player performances, injuries, officiating or judging, weather, or odds movements.

You have no control over the outcome of your wagers or the events you bet on. Some people experience problem gambling by overestimating the skill involved.

A vast majority of sports bettors lose money in the long run.

A 2024 online betting study from the University of California found that just 4% of bettors withdrew money over a five-year period.

Why Parlays Make Sports Betting More Like a Lottery

A parlay bet combines multiple individual bets into a single wager. It’s essentially a lottery-style form of sports betting, making it especially risky financially.

To win a parlay, all the individual bets (legs) must be successful. If even one bet fails, the entire parlay is lost. The nature of parlays creates the dangerous near-miss effect.

Some sportsbooks offer promotions to void a parlay leg or a form of parlay bet protection. These don’t change the fundamental gambling nature.

Why Parlay Betting is Gambling

• Increased complexity: Each additional leg in a parlay increases the complexity and decreases the probability of winning. The more bets you include, the more outcomes must go your way. The potential payout doesn’t increase in proportion to the risk.
• Exponential risk: The risk multiplies with each additional leg because the bettor is reliant on all selected outcomes occurring as predicted.
• Payout temptation: While parlays can offer higher payouts than individual bets, the likelihood of winning is typically lower. The high potential reward can tempt bettors to make riskier bets and chasing losses.
• Sportsbook edge: Sportsbooks have a higher margin on parlays. The compounded probability of multiple outcomes makes it even less likely for bettors to win. In 2025, FanDuel reported a new record hold on baseball parlays.

What is a Value Bet and Why It’s Still Gambling

It’s rare to be profitable in the long term with sports betting. Your best chance is by finding tiny edges, known as “value bets.”

Over time, you could win slightly more than you lose and turn a profit. However, sportsbooks sometimes limit winners, and it’s legal for them to do so.

Creating a model to help you locate value bets is also challenging. For most people, it’s not worth pursuing. 

GamblingHarm.org recommends avoiding wagers based on the advice of people who give out picks and so-called “best bets.” These betting industry influencers are often losing bettors.

Someone who develops a system to win their bets slightly more than they lose usually tries to fly under the radar.

Can You Make Money Betting?

It’s very unlikely that you will reliably make money by betting on sports. That’s because it’s gambling.

In 2020, 76% of sports bettors aged 21-34 believed gambling to be a form of entrepreneurship.

The misconception may have worsened in recent years. In 2025, 90% of online sports bettors aged 18-34 thought they could reliably make money, according to polling.

In reality, sports betting has much in common with other casino games like blackjack and roulette.

Is Betting Like Stock Market Gambling?

Sports betting has more in common with short-term speculative trading. Examples include meme stocks, options speculation, or prediction markets. These activities can cause financial harm to individuals.

This is in contrast to long-term diversified investing.

They also have significant differences. 

Similarities

• Risk: Both involve risking money with the potential for financial gain or loss.
• Research & Analysis: Performance in both can be influenced by the amount of research and analysis an individual conducts. However, research quality can be poor.
• Market Influences: Both are influenced by external and unpredictable factors (e.g., injuries in sports, interest rates, macroeconomic conditions, and more).
• Speculation: Both activities involve speculation about future outcomes based on available or public information, often leading to the illusion of skill or expertise.

Differences

• Long-term vs. Short-term: Sports betting typically involves short-term events and immediate outcomes, leading many people to addiction. Meanwhile, the stock market can involve both short-term trading and long-term investments. Stock trading on platforms like Robinhood can be highly addictive for many people.
• Expected Value: Sports betting has a negative expected value for the bettor due to the “house edge” or bookmaker’s margin. Historically, stocks have provided positive returns over the long term, though they carry potential for loss, especially for traders.

Bottom Line: Betting Counts as Gambling

Regardless of how you bet, sports betting is gambling because you risk money on uncertain outcomes and lose money in the long run.

In the current era of sports betting, it’s very challenging to win in the long run. 

Even if you developed a system with a very small but significant edge to exploit betting on a sport, online betting sites may restrict your account. Sportsbooks prefer customers who lose in the long run — but not too fast.

Because you probably won’t make money on sports in the long run, we recommend caution when using a betting app.