First: the purpose is different. Insurance is to pass on risks and get protection. Gambling for profiteering

Second: the results are different, insurance benefits others, and gambling creates risks.

Third: legal status: legal protection of insurance, prohibition of gambling.

Insurance refers to the commercial behavior that the applicant pays the insurance premium to the insurer according to the contract, and the insurer undertakes to pay the insurance premium for the property losses caused by the possible accidents agreed in the contract, or when the insured dies, is disabled or sick or reaches the age and time limit agreed in the contract.

The concept of insurance can be understood from several angles: from a legal point of view, insurance is a contractual act. The applicant pays the insurance premium to the insurer, and the insurer compensates the loss of the insured in accordance with the provisions of the contract, or assumes the responsibility of paying the insurance premium when the insured dies, is disabled or sick, or reaches the age and time limit stipulated in the contract.

From an economic point of view, insurance is one of the effective means of risk management, which transfers objective future risks and converts uncertain losses into deterministic costs (premiums). Moreover, the compensation provided by insurance is based on the occurrence of losses, and the amount of compensation is limited to the value of losses, so there is no possibility of making profits through insurance.

From the sociological point of view, insurance embodies people's spirit of mutual assistance, and turns the unstable risk into a stable factor, thus ensuring the healthy development of society.

Insurance is essentially a socialized arrangement. Insurers organize people who are at risk, so that personal risks can be transferred and dispersed, and insurers organize insurance funds to be borne centrally. If the insured suffers losses, he can get compensation from the insurance fund. In other words, if one person loses, everyone will share it, that is, "everyone for me and I for everyone". It can be seen that insurance is essentially a mutual aid behavior.

On the surface, there are many similarities between insurance and gambling. If they are all based on random events, they may get more benefits with less expenses, but in fact they are essentially different.

Judging from the participants' attitude towards risk, the insured belongs to the risk aversion type. In theory, he is willing to pay a smaller cost (premium) than the expected loss value to transfer the uncertainty of the loss. A gambler is a risk lover, who is willing to pay less than expected to gain the uncertainty of income.

Compared with insurance risk transfer, gambling is to actively create risks, convert a certain cost (bet) into uncertain income, and not bear the risk of loss other than cost. At the same time, gambling is a kind of speculation. Turning the original stable income into unstable risk will only bring unstable factors to society and families.

Insurance and savings are both management means for people to cope with future risks, with the aim of ensuring normal production and life in the future. The difference is that saving is to leave risks for yourself and rely on personal accumulation to deal with future risks. It doesn't have to pay any price, but it may also fall into the predicament of insufficient protection. And insurance is to transfer the risks faced, relying on collective financial resources to provide adequate protection for the losses caused by risks. But at the same time, insurance has to pay a certain price, that is, premium; Bank savings do not need to be spent, and principal and interest are obtained at maturity. It can be seen that insurance and savings have their own characteristics. Now, with the development of insurance industry, there are many types of insurance with savings nature, such as double life insurance. Whether the insured dies during the insurance period or lives until the expiration of the insurance period, the insurer will pay the insurance money.

Further reading: How to buy insurance, which is good, and teach you how to avoid these "pits" of insurance.