---
title: Athletes Gambling vs People Trading Stocks
date: 2025-10-25T00:00:00
author: Charlie M.
category: SIGNAL
---
So, I was sitting there, squinting at my phone, trying to decipher the weird shadow that was falling across my lap — you know when the sun hits right through the blinds in that annoying striped way? Anyway, it got me thinking about stripes and patterns and somehow, I ended up thinking about those graphs with the jagged lines you see on stock trading apps. Maybe it was the shadows on my pants looking like some chaotic market visualization. Is that normal? Probably not, but whatever.
Scrolling through Instagram later, like the addict I pretend not to be, I stumbled on some post about athletes getting into trouble with gambling. I think it was some football player? Not sure. But it struck me, isn't trading stocks kinda like gambling too? It's all about risk, and chance, and hoping you're on the winning side. I don't know, feels like they're two sides of the same coin or maybe that's just a stretch.
I've dabbled in both. Well, not gambling exactly unless you count those times I've awkwardly held a deck of cards at family gatherings, pretending to know poker rules. But I've tried my hand at stocks. Downloaded Robinhood after reading some half-convincing Reddit thread. Lost more than I care to admit, then deleted the app when the dopamine rush turned into anxiety. Do athletes feel the same when they gamble away their million-dollar contracts? I wonder.
I read somewhere — or was it a podcast? — that about 80% of day traders lose money. Or maybe it was 90%. Doesn’t matter — it’s a lot. Sounds like the odds of a bad bet, doesn’t it? But stocks have this veneer of respectability. Put on a suit, stare at screens all day, and you're not a gambler. But throw on a jersey and it's a whole different ball game. Literally. Weird distinction. Maybe because one’s all glamour and the other’s… not?
There was this one late-night deep dive where I found an article, might have been on Forbes, about how brains light up in similar ways during trading and gambling. How reliable that is, I can’t say. I barely trust what my own brain is doing half the time let alone those studies with squiggly MRI lines. But still, it’s a curious notion, isn’t it? The thrill, the risk, the stakes.
I think about times I’ve tried to be disciplined, setting rules for when to buy or sell stocks. But then a tweet from Elon Musk makes me second guess everything. I imagine athletes face their own version of that — maybe not Musk-related but still, external stuff messing with their head. Or maybe they don’t overthink like me, who knows?
Why do we feel compelled to take these risks, whether it's stocks or gambling? Is it just boredom? Maybe it’s a search for significance, trying to matter in this vast, impersonal world. Or just a flawed way to feel control over something when most days just feel like a series of unconnected events.
I don't know. Maybe there’s no real answer. The shadows on my lap have moved, and I’m left feeling like I've wandered through a mental maze with no exit sign. But maybe that's okay, to just not know. I'd like to think there's something worthwhile in sitting with the uncertainty – even if it doesn’t wrap up neatly.
Anyway, I should probably get up and move around. Shake off the stripes from my pants and maybe try to make sense of it all another day. Or maybe not.