Wanting to feel superior to others is 90% of the reason people spend money on non-essentials. You're in good company.

The advantage of betting on a horse is that the next race is in 10 minutes. You buy a call on the price of MSFT, for example, and you're going to be waiting a while before you can place another bet.

And there are notoriously betting groups around the world that have made fortunes off of betting on horse racing. I'd bet that they feel superior to people betting on commodities and productive assets when they could be betting on horses.