If you really think about it, online lottery you'll find a remarkable range of life's situations that can be inherently risky. Nearly everything a person does is some form 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's 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.