Famous example: https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/121515/how-s...
I have both RobinHood account and IBKR and I don't see how I could do an unhedged short.
As a retail investor, the only way I see to short is via options and there you can only loose 100%.
It also bears mentioning that an average result in Vegas is: you loose.
Benchmark returns for stock market is S&P 500 which is 8-15% yearly return (over multiple years, depending on how good the economy is during those years).
And the chances of doing better are higher than chances of loosing money.
It looks like the person in your example was selling a call, which has potentially unlimited losses - that was a rather poor decision on his part. There are much safer methods of making "the same bet".
Gambling is a random game designed to extract money from people. The stock market is a math game that doesn't care if you gain or lose.
So many of these stories involve highly-leveraged options stuff, reminiscent of stuff that even my schoolbook US history summation of the Great Depression described as super-dangerous.
Do people not just gamble on credit? I highly doubt casinos care about the average person's financials, as long as the money ends in their pockets.
I see no difference between the stock market and gambling, sure there's "smart strategies" to the stock market but at the end of the day it's the same result for anyone with a gambling addiction to either.
In stock market, you win on average.
Not to mention that stock market is much more a game of skill than game of chance (as is most of casino games).
I did very well in stock market and I don't feel like I'm gambling. I recognize there is risk and I lost money on some investments but I can usually pin point the reason I lost. It's not random.