Wealthy people usually don't gamble their money. They look for good investments, that's how they stay wealthy. But it's an idea. Good luck with it.
True, but there's another way to look at it.
For a really great player, a professional player, poker is an investment. In my opinion, poker is only
gambling if the player is playing it with a gambling mindset, sure there's the potential to lose money, but that's nothing new to investors. Many don't see investing in the stock market as gambling, yet many people gamble their money away there without knowing the true potential of a company, holding on to investments too long, and any other number of mistakes.
Furthermore, a lot of very wealthy people have no interest in actually looking over the details of their portfolio. Investors hire stock brokers to look over their investments, put their money into the correct markets and share a percentage of the gains. Many investors supply capital for companies for a share or royalty in the company without any real participation in it's day to day operations beyond suppling startup capital. The same is true here.
Consider a professional poker player like a stock broker or a small business owner looking for start up capital. Sure, there's a potential risk, but investors will also look at the potential reward and the skill of the person involved. I know some individuals who invested in a small business, they didn't necessarily know how it all worked, but they saw a potential that outweighed the risk. Some investors may micro-manage their investments, but many are so diversified they outsource this to other individuals. I'm no big time investor, but when someone wants me to invest in something, I don't always want or need the nitty gritty details - I just want the overall picture, the risks involved, prior experience, and potential profits. If I knew a player who was consistantly a strong winner at poker needing some startup capital, I'd see that as a strong investment. A lot of the time, it's just as easy to make money by putting faith in other people's skills - it allows you to reach out into areas you wouldn't otherwise be able to invest in.