Question by christopher: How do you say “gambler” in french? Would it be the same as “player”?

Instead of joueur, would parieur work?

Best answer:

Answer by DAVID
Yes, “le joueur” using something along the lines of “pour l’argent” (for money) if you want to emphasise the player’s motivation, is the commonest rendering for “gambler” on the professional translator’s website Linguee:

1. Holmes involved a theft of over $ 100,000 by an employee who was in a position of trust and who was also a pathological gambler = Dans l’affaire Holmes, un employé en situation de confiance et qui était aussi un joueur pathologique avait volé plus de 100 000 $ .
2. A voracious womanizer and gambler who was perpetually in debt, he toured Europe during the French occupation and wrote a poetic account of his adventures, Childe… = Un womanizer et un joueur voraces qui était perpétuellement dans la dette, il a voyagé l’Europe pendant le métier français et a écrit un compte poétique de ses…
3. Your father, age 62, a gambler, and his girlfriend own a house together = Votre père, de 62 ans, un joueur compulsif, et sa compagne, sont copropriétaires d’une maison.
http://www.linguee.fr/anglais-francais/traduction/gambler.html

If you mean a stock exchange gambler, you might try “le spéculateur” (speculator) as a rendering of “gambler”. There’s also the expression “le flambeur” in French for a “high-roller”:
http://www.linguee.fr/francais-anglais/search?source=auto&query=flambeur

POSTSCRIPT
“Le parieur” is indeed a possibility; it translates as “better, punter, backer”, from “pari”, signifying “bet, wager, stake”. If you are considering “parieur”, follow this link to the Linguee website where you will find many examples of “parieur” contextualised within a French sentence, accompanied by an English translation:
http://www.linguee.com/english-french/search?query=parieur&moreResults=1
See if any of the sentences there use “parieur” in a way that approximates to what you want.

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