If you really think about it, there are actually a remarkable range of life's situations that will be inherently risky. Nearly everything someone does is some type of gambling. Even with such mundane act of getting up and going to work, increases one's prospects of being killed in a transportation accident. In face of today and everything you know about investing, whether it be 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 trusted lotto dealers (such a good point) perhaps not. There is just 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.