Do you have a 401K Barry?
Most people do, and it is almost certain some of your family members do.
I would estimate that the overwhelming majority of people who have 401K's don't know how to invest properly in them. This is why companies who run them, continually try to educate the account holders on how to use them. At the same time, the explanations on how to invest can be so byzantine, people just throw their money in Fund X and assume it will grow.
Well in 2008, it didn't grow. People who had 401K's lost 20%/30%/40% of the value...10 years of gains, wiped out in several months. Billions of dollars...
And this isn't gambling money. Most of us here are small-timers whether we like to admit it. We won't go into financial ruin because of some NBA/NFL bets.
But people did experience financial ruin with regard to their retirement in 2008. They lost more money than they could ever get their hands on to reasonably gamble for entertainment and small profits.
Why? They were INSTRUCTED by their employers to do so and if they didn't, they were told they couldn't retire with a sustainable income stream. That's pretty intimidating isn't it!
Therefore, when you work for a private corporation in America, if you do not have a 401K, you will probably need some major financial support from other family members to survive into your old age.
And even at that, it is not guaranteed, given you can lose those savings.
Why can you lose them? They are gambled within the confines of the stock market. And if you choose to invest your money in stable value funds, you're money won't grow at the rate necessary to fund your future.
Therefore, we as sports bettors believe our knowledge, accrued over a lifetime of watching sports, is sometimes a better option when we decide to invest it. Sometimes we are right, sometimes wrong. But at a minimum, we control which team we want to choose, understand the game and consequences and pay a small overhead fee to place the bet (this is a model of the informed non-addicted bettor).
The sports bet sounds quite reasoned in those terms and is largely amoral when it's not affecting your responsibilities.
All in all, you, or your children, or your loved ones are gambling with much higher stakes and have much more to lose when it comes to their 401K.
You're a gambler Barry...whether you like to admit it or not...
YOU are the one you described in your OP
There's no way around it...