While the odds are good, buying a house does not guarantee shelter. One has to place a bet that the house will provide the shelter that they seek. If one loses (e.g. the house burns down), that's it. It was all for not. The loss is very much real. The only way you get to play again is to buy a different house[1]. Literally gambling.

However, one can hedge the risk of the gamble by also purchasing insurance. With the right insurance, the insurance will help buy another house in which one can take another bet on. So, again, insurance may not be gambling[2], but it is a tool used to help one gamble. It has no applicability outside of gambling.

> Just using the world “gamble” in a sentence doesn’t make it so.

Are you confusing gambling with gambling for the sake of entertainment? You have a point that buying a house or selling insurance is not like playing a state lottery or casino games. However, that is not what the article is about[3], nor would any reasonable person think that is the only form of gambling.

[1] Repairing it, if possible, but as far as this discussion goes that is the same as buying a different house.

[2] From the buyer's point of view. The insurer gambles (in turn, hedged by reinsurance) when a policy is sold.

[3] It does not seem to be able to find any difference between gambling and (selling) insurance. It is not written about fun games of chance.