Earlier quoted context omitted.
Consider the contrast between the two things you just said: "place bets on which cryptocoins might be more useful than other" "The Casino ALWAYS wins, in aggregate." In the former, you expect you have some better than even odds of winning money -- otherwise you wouldn't be doing it. In the latter you clearly understand that the odds are against you. See how different those are? We can argue about the ability to day-t…
You specifically said "That's easier to parse than odds for .. a blackjack hand?" Presumably what one is parsing when making a speculative trade is the odds of a positive outcome. (You don't need to parse a blackjack hand, btw. The odds are pre-calculated and easy to look up[0]. But I was talking about the overall odds of playing, anyway, which is usually about a 0.5% house advantage per hand.) Note: I'm not arguing…
Even if you don't believe in the underlying security, you can attempt to ride those waves using technology provided to you by GDAX or Bittrex or whatever - the entire order book is laid out for you to learn and think about, and speculate on. That's easier to parse than odds for .. a blackjack hand? Even a roulette wheel probability play requires some basic training in probability.
You read that as, the odds are easier to parse for crypto. That's not what I was saying, even if I worded it poorly such that it could be taken like that. It's just not an apples to apples comparison, since with a card game you can construct a mathematical model of probability around it. You can't do that so easily with many other types of speculation and investment (let's suspend argument about THAT distinction for a moment).
But my point all along is that it doesn't matter; investments can be assessed non-mathematically by following non-mathematical sources of data and making predictions. History, politics, law change and it's extremely difficult to ascribe statistics to every possible outcome, at least for almost everyone. Otherwise, there would be no market at all for the vast majority of 'investments' / 'speculations'. Only mathematicians could be involved. Now, there are people that make a living out of creating statistical models around stock movements, but that doesn't mean that every other person alive who doesn't and still pursues purchases of stocks is doing so with more risk than throwing all their chips on Black 26. And it is the same with cryptocurrency.
To circle back to the original point, yes, I feel it's rather hypocritical that casino games are open for business for the little guy, but when the little guy uses a web app with a UI with order book details to try to play the cryptocurrency market, a tool of the type really mainly known primarily on stock trading floors until recently, suddenly the little guy needs the law to step out in front to protect him from himself.