Great comment gfodor. I like to think of it like this.
Buying options is like gambling at a casino. Statistically you will just keep losing money because the house always wins - they have the edge - unless you play a game like poker with a bunch of suckers - where the casino still takes a nice chunk of your change.
Selling options is like being a casino without the ability to know what the statistics of the underlying distributions or their payoffs are. Nor do you have the ability to kick a guy out if he wins too big and too often. It's a casino without the control. And a casino without control - is a casino that goes bankrupt.
Buying options is like gambling at a casino. Statistically you will just keep losing money because the house always wins - they have the edge - unless you play a game like poker with a bunch of suckers - where the casino still takes a nice chunk of your change.
Selling options is like being a casino without the ability to know what the statistics of the underlying distributions or their payoffs are. Nor do you have the ability to kick a guy out if he wins too big and too often. It's a casino without the control. And a casino without control - is a casino that goes bankrupt.