> only people with significant incomes and the ability to lose 98% of their investments

If you only invest 1%, you can only lose 1%. And with bitcoin, you can invest at $1 if you want.

> I would argue the odds are against you in BTC.

Seems that in reality they weren't.

> Should you put a tiny % of your investment in horse races?

Still talking about Vegas? In that case you don't seem to understand risk-return. NOBODY should invest in horse races or Vegas, or the lottery. Nobody! Not rich, not poor. Why? Because the risk-return ratio is known to be < 1. Why? Because casino's and bookmakers make sure it is < 1.

The risk-return of Bitcoin is not known to be < 1, and neither are that of startups. Therefore people can actually make money investing in these high risk things, by averaging them out.

Let me put this in another way, if you place a huge amount of Vegas bets, you average out the risk-return, and you will end up with < 1 return. If you place a huge amount of 'bets' on startups and similar investments, you can end up with > 1. That's why people are making money with it.

Instead of arguing with me, maybe you should consider that there might be a tiny bit in truth to all of this. And then maybe that wisdom can make you some decent money in the future. But I won't lose any sleep over it if you don't. I have a sane, pretty conservative investment strategy, and it's doing fine.