smarts
This is very similar to how I started playing poker too. However, no one was ever against me learning poker early on: the game just never interested me. I have like zero interest in the "thrill of gambling" and to this day, things like betting on horse racing or casino slot machines never appeal to me. I am not 100% against these things if someone gets enjoyment from it, but I guess I just don't see how you would win at these long-term. Horse racing (and other sports betting) has "odds" factored in, so you are never really "ahead" through much research and statistics because chances are someone has already factored that information into the "odds" and slot machines are a joke because of them literally pre-set by the casinos.
It is funny you make note of something here - I am not a gambler either.
It is a cliche within poker that whenever someone makes such a claim, other will call BS and say of course everyone who plays poker is a gambler. Not so.
I have never gambled on anything other than poker. Not once.
I became interested in poker exactly because of this. I would take calculated risks in my life when I knew the outcome depended on my hard work and basic smarts. But
gambling has never appealed. What fascinated me with poker was the ability to constantly take a beat, often when making the right play, with the ability to put that defeat aside and play on, focus on the task at hand. It was a skill set I did not possess but wanted to develop.
Stepping over the line even with play money was a challenge at first, but then the thrill of winning an hand quickly became the reward I thought it might, and the rest, as they say, is history!