[Jacob_Gilliam]

Most activities that we participate in everyday is one form or another of gambling. When I get up and go to work in the morning I do so because I expect the outcome to be +EV, although I am not assured of this (such as if I die on the way there). Mostly poker is considered bad because A) there is a high short term volatility, and B) most people lose in the long run. But then again picking stocks can have high volatilty (in some cases) and most people don't call that a sin. Also, many other activities that people participate in are negative long term, such as eating and drinking habits, watching too much T.V., sleeping too much,
etc., yet people don't consider them to be sins (at least not on the level of poker) because a much greater percentage of the population commit these acts, and it's harder to call everyone a sinner than just a few select groups who participate in activities that we don't participate in.