These are really financial bets on whether some asset will gain or lose value.

VOA: special.2010.04.30

Currency ETFs at their most basic are directional bets on the value of a currency.

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Even projects normally hyped as sure bets for adding value generate surprisingly weak gains, NAR reports.

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Although the practice was not prohibited, it created a massive market for gambling on companies' credit worthiness without limiting those bets to the value of the underlying obligations.

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