VIEW FROM THE THAMES
DEON GOUWS: Betting companies worth a flutter
What about the first derivative of gambling — in other words, betting on betting companies?
There are few things that grate more than when people refer to investing in any security as a "bet". Investment professionals manage other people’s money — elderly people’s money. To equate this with a mere gamble smacks of not understanding the fiduciary duty that fund managers have in respect of their clients — one that presupposes the highest level of responsibility and diligence.
After 2½ decades in the investment world, I have, however, come to realise that I’m probably in a small minority when it comes to this view. Gambling references permeate the world of investing, and it probably starts in the Statistics 101 class, where the first principles of probability theory are explained in terms of a simple coin toss...
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