I would not call public markets a casino, but I suppose some people have pretty liberal definitions for such things.

Public companies have to submit regular financial reports, which are handled by independent auditors. So you can be reasonably sure that a company claiming to make money, is making money. And executives have a legal requirement to protect share holder value.

Buying shares in Apple is much less of a "gamble" than opening your own business.

Not to the same extent as PE because of all the regulatory requirements of being a public company.