If you really think about it, you can find an amazing range of life's situations that can be inherently risky. Nearly everything a person does is some type of gambling. Even with such mundane act of getting up and going to work, increases one's probability of being killed in a transportation accident. In face of today and everything you know about investing, whether it is in business, an asset class (stocks, bonds, real-estate, cash and commodities), or index fund, even in its most basic element, it is nothing but "betting" that someday tomorrow is going to be better with pleasant expected returns on investment; or perhaps not. There is only one big risk you should avoid and that is the risk of doing nothing and not taking your chance. Come to look-at it in face value, investing in any money market really is, legalized gambling, per se. You may look at investing with regards to chart formation, or you put your hard earned money in the utilities anticipating once they are "due", you cash in or again maybe not; or you choose to possess any one of the hundreds of analysts culling spreadsheets or fund index investors work on the fundamentals of investing for you in manufacturing, real-estate, cash and commodities-no matter what your reasoning for that, if that is not gambling, then what is? Basically, you are betting that in 5, 10 or 15 years from now there will be more folks, buying more stuff, utilizing more energy, dependent on more gadgets-with hope which you can cash in; or even not. You are basically "betting" on all of it. So it really is, with the lottery-a form of gambling with origins in Florence, Italy, where the first lottery was held in the 16th Century, official statement then called the Lotto de Firenze, and quickly adopted by other Italian cities. It became a national lottery, and still known today as the Lotto in Italy, as also adopted and called in several other countries, including the USA. The lottery, as a type of government-licensed gambling, involves drawing of lots for a range of winnings and then for the massive jackpot prize. Gambling, like poker, blackjack, roulette, sports betting and racing, can involve skill or simply chance alone; however the lottery won't require any special skills-set to play. As with any risk, there is always something at stake. Even if you decide to take the risk of starting a business, you stand to lose money, time as well as your reputation. The exact same things you stand to gain whenever you take the opportunity to start your own business. The lots you buy to play the lottery are today in the type of tickets and also the prize is often a big sum of money. The draws are random and every player has an equal chance of winning the key prize which often grows really big with massive roll over jackpots.