It took me a long time to recognize that almost everything in life is essentially a wager...be it investments, relationships, or crossing the street.

Sadly, to recognize this is for most people frightening, because it forces them to come to terms with the simple fact that they "know" so very little about anything. Known unknowns and far outnumbered by unknown unknowns.

I spent 13 years pricing commodity derivatives on Wall Street before I ever made a single wager on a sporting event. You want to know the difference between the two?

Absolutely...nothing. They are probabalistic events with inputs to be identified and modeled, knowns and unknowns, equally susceptible to chance, manipulation, or some balance of both.

Sadly, one industry is far better at lobbying the honest, wise, learned people in Washington.