It's a gamble but if you have deep enough pockets then it's a potential grand slam.

Guys banking on 10, 15, 20% appreciation in markets where housing is already pricey is quite a gamble.

This was about 7 years ago.Their point of view is the option periods could not be renewed so they are taking a gamble.

@Terrence Evans  GSU is likely to get Turner Field, but you'd be gambling to buy in Summerill and Peoplestown in hopes of a turn around.  

It takes my time and is a gamble. 

You are proceeding with buying a property before evaluating it, this is called gambling.

plus tenants in Las Vegas are not the best anyway so I want to have rentals where people are more about family instead of drugs and gambling..

Without the background education "gambling" is a better term than "play" although they both amount to the same thing.

This in itself should bring the value of the property from $5,600,000 to $7,200,000 (and this is considering a more conservative exit cap rate of 100 bp above the enter one), so at the end of the day the increased value would make the investment IRR in the 15-20%.I have a considerable amount of my portfolio in the stock market and believe me, no 2.5% dividend yield stock is going to deliver that performance over the next few years, especially considering the current inflated P/E ratios in the market, unless we gamble on ridiculous appreciation, so I fail to see how your comparison is fair.

Home warranties are basically gambling that you will at some point you will collect on it and hopefully it will cover the repairs without costing you too much.