Mxsmanic wrote:
writes:

The paper legally represents the ownership of the house.

Unless someone else decides to seize it.

In the end the ultimate seller may make a profit or a loss on the sale
of the future, but the future almost never becomes worthless.

For every profit, there is a loss.

In trading futures one can influence the outcome and minimize the risks
by knowing what one is doing.

Famous last words.

In gambling, about the only way to influence the outcome is to count
cards at games like blackjack, which isn't allowed in most casinos.

It works better than playing financial markets

Let's take a July contract on Unleaded gasoline. The contract originally
sales for let say $3.45/gal. It is then traded a few times before the
delivery date at $3.47, $3.49 and $3.51. The final settle and delivery
is at $3.55. While technically the first guy who bought the contract
lost $0.07/gal. because he didn't hold contract through to the end he
still made $0.02/gal just as everyone else in the chain did.